


That Sexy Foreigner Thing

by orphan_account



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Foreign students, ShikaTema
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-28
Updated: 2015-05-19
Packaged: 2018-03-15 14:51:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 34,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3451121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Temari leaves her town to go to Konoha's top high school because there's more job opportunities in Konoha.  Working two jobs, she plans on helping her two brothers.  But along the way, mostly due to her lazy guide, chaos ensues.  </p>
<p>So I wanted to do a high school AU and it turned out a little dramatic but it will lighten up later.  I'm drawing from my own experience being the foreigner and having mass appeal only because I'm like mysterious.  No one ever calls her a sexy foreigner.  Temari would never stand for that, so the title is 100% a joke.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

My father died three months ago. I don't really care, because I never really knew him. He was never around, too busy being the mayor of Suna. Truthfully, life was better when he was busy, he was an asshole whenever he was around. But, at the very least, he gave me and my brothers, Kankuro and Gaara, a place to sleep (usually) and money for food. That asshole had to go and die, and now we don't have either. See, most parents have the decency to give their children their money in their will, but no, my father completely and utterly fucked all three of us over by giving all his money away to a political ally.

So now, I'm stuck having to support my two younger brothers. We have no money, and honestly, I was so scared. But things have worked out in the past three months. Gaara and Kankuro both have retained their place in Suna's Academy. Baki is their guardian now, making sure they come home and have food. Me? I got into Konoha's most elite academy with a full scholarship. I didn't want to leave my brothers in Suna, but I had two jobs waiting for me in Konoha, and an education that will land me a better job later. I sent out my cover letter and resume about a month ago to Ichiraku Ramen and the Yamanaka Flower Shop. I heard back from the two places just a few weeks ago, they both hired me. I was quite proud of myself. You learn to do that when you don't have parents to do it for you.

Our father dying felt strange, not because I'd miss him, but because we were in such a high social class, him being a successful politician and all, then all of a sudden, we were regarded as nothing. Just orphans with no money. Plenty of people didn't like our father, so no one was particularly keen on helping us, except people like Baki.

But I don't really care about a social class, I just need to get my brothers and myself through our education, so they can have a chance at a good life. Kankuro is an amazing artist, his puppets are creepy, but they're incredibly detailed and interesting. And they have a cult following back in Suna. Gaara, on the other hand, needs more support. A reason I got a job is to pay for his medical bills. But any sort of job is worth Gaara not having to deal with psychosis. He suffered terribly from psychotic episodes while our father was alive, and the guilt he had because of it ate him up, making an insomniac of him. It put quite a damper on our relationship, and ruined his childhood. But Gaara has been getting better. He now has ambitions to go into politics as well. I'll be damned if I don't do everything in my power to help him achieve his dreams.

Leaving my brothers was difficult. None of us are good at expressing our emotions, but I could tell we were all sad to be split up. Even if our goodbye could be summed up with awkward waves and sad smiles. I would miss those idiots, I hope Baki would force them to send me letters, Gaara would probably do it on his own, though. Funny how something that's supposed to be a tragedy, my father's death, made my brothers and I closer. I feel bad for saying this, but in a way, I feel like it was a good tradeoff. I don't think there are a lot of things in the world that I would take in exchange for my brothers. Maybe peace in this crazy, half allied, feudal world. Yeah, that'd be nice.

The journey to Konoha wasn't too bad, three days on the train. I got some sleep and tried to get accustomed to all the trees and life that the forest provided. Nothing like the desert I was from. The people on the train were unusually nice. People back in Suna were too suspicious of each other to be nice to strangers, we all just minded our own business. I looked down at my acceptance letter. It had an address on it for the Nara Compound, some kid in it was assigned by the school to be my guide while in Konoha, help me get assimilated. He sent me the most hilarious letter:

_Dear Temari,_

_I'm mostly writing this because my mom's looking over and is going to have my head if I do not look busy. This whole thing is a total drag and I suspect you are going to be troublesome because you're a girl. Well my mom is also forcing me to ask you to watch clouds with me or play shougi. I have no idea why. You probably will leave Konoha in like a week because my mother is such a harpy._

Then, in a completely different script:

_My mother is a wonderful, hospitable person, I was simply joking. I have no respect for my elders. I sure do hope you have a safe and easy travel. We have been informed by the school of your father's recent passing, and I give you my condolences. I can't imagine how you must be feeling, but we'll try and make it as nice as possible for you, in this time of grieving. On a logistical note, I have attached a piece of paper with the address of our compound in case of an emergency._

_Love,_

Then, back to the original script:

_FROM,_

_Shikamaru._

_ps. sorry about your dad._

I got quite a kick out of that. I wouldn't be living with their family, the school provided boarding for orphans and foreigners, which was a minority of the school's population. They'd just be showing me around.

I'd never admit something so embarrassing to anyone, but I was getting kind of nervous. I kept rehearsing how I would greet my guide's family, how I would act on my first day of school. I thought about how people would be likely to treat me. I had the whole sexy foreigner thing going on for me. But would the students in Konoha know about my father and his corruption? Then I even thought of all that feminine crap that I secretly loved. How was I going to style my hair? Would I wear my black kimono? Would I let everyone know that I'm the bitchy type from the start? I decided to a) wear my hair in the four ponytails, that's the only way it's manageable b) wear my black kimono, Temari, you fool, you hardly own anything else and c) I'd act natural, but to be frank, I knew someone would piss me off before lunch and the whole world would know that Temari no Sabaku was the cruelest bitch on the block. And not sorry about it.

The three day train ride was over quickly enough. Once I landed on the platform, I wobbled a bit, not used to balancing on still ground. The environment was so different. For starters, I was freaking cold. And the air wasn't dry, it felt slightly more humid (which was probably going to be a problem for my hair but I'd burn that bridge once I got to it). Welcoming signs in every language popped out everywhere, and even the customer service employees were smiling. Why was everyone smiling here? Don't they know that student debt is higher than ever and lives can be turned upside down by the simplest things? Okay, that wasn't fair. I was just bitter that my entire life had changed and it felt like I had no control over it. So I was pretty annoyed at all the smiles, it was like they were mocking me. I went to the lower part of the train to grab my trunk. It was kind of humbling, packing it. My entire life: my wardrobe, notebooks, old letters, photographs, trinkets, tessen etc. all packed into one trunk. And it wasn't even that big. I could haul it all the way to the Nara compound by myself. Which I would have had to do whether I could or not. I looked at a map on the wall and at the address on the mail again. I silently cursed seeing that I was going to have to haul my trunk two miles. But complaining wasn't going to make the house any closer to the station, so I just waltzed out of the place, half dragging my trunk behind me, on my way to the Nara house.


	2. Chapter 2

**a/n: It kind of ends awkwardly, but I want to post something and I'm not sure how to end it. This universe is a highschool au, but it's in the same universe. It always irks me when YA books have these incredibly powerful people who like, don't go to highschool. Like how terrifying would it be if there was a freaking wizard who could kill you with a wave of his wand, but he didn't know who Hitler was. You know? So I just made the Naruto universe into one where Shinobi have training along with learning in a classroom, like they did in the academy. If that doesn't make sense, please tell me. Please review! I don't have any motivation to write unless I get reviews tbh!**

About three quarters of the way to the Nara compound, I was convinced I'd never make it; it would be easier to just walk home. To start off with, I picked up that Konoha isn't very big, only slightly bigger than Suna. This meant that a stranger carrying a huge bag and a fan wasn't a common occurrence. I guess I was literally the talk of the town. People stared openly and they made it painfully obvious that they were all whispering about me. I didn't really mind much, I was pretty used to it. During the last part of the school year, last year, gossip had been so bad that when my brothers and I were out in public, we'd wear masks (or stupid makeup and a hood since Kankuro couldn't just act like a normal person) so that the press or angry townspeople wouldn't harass us, as if we had had a hand in our father's horrible politics.

The actual bad part of the trip started shortly after people started clearing out of the streets. I was born in Suna, and didn't know better. Before I knew it, I was about the only person in the street, and then lightning struck. I wasn't  _scared_  exactly, I only jumped like two feet. But I'd never seen thunder before, so it's possible that I was slightly  _concerned_. Now, if any Konohan born person was still on the street, they'd have the decency to run for cover. I not only didn't know what to do, but I'd have nowhere to go even if I did know what was about to transpire. Well, it started raining buckets and I was head to toe drenched. I kept lugging my bag around, grunting every few seconds. The wind kept pushing me around, to the point that I was pretty sure that the stupid way-too-heavy-for-its-volume trunk of mine was the only thing keeping me grounded. I'd never seen so much rain, or water, in my life, surely this isn't natural.

After thirty painful minutes of struggling, thinking that I was going to drown, I finally made it to their stupid compound. I mean, sure, it was one of the most beautiful homes I'd ever seen, lots of open space, beautiful trees, the most gorgeous wooden home. It was quite picturesque. But it was still stupid because it was two freaking miles from the stupid, stupid, station.

Then, suddenly, I was hit by a wave of a different emotions. I wasn't nervous, no. I was just feeling slightly ill. My legs were shaking, not because I was cold, and my stomach was turning. I shyly walked up to the door, and hesitated before giving it a light knock. I heard some commotion on the other side of it, and then a very beautiful (probably much prettier than I, considering I probably mimicked the appearance of a wet dog at that moment) woman opened the door. She, too, looked disheveled, but she looked nice that way. A strand of brown hair had fallen out of her neatly pinned back style, she wore an apron that was slightly soiled from cooking, and she was slightly out of breath.

"Oh please don't tell me you're Temari no Sabaku."

I openly gaped at her words. At that point, I'll admit, I was ridden with anxiety. I was broke, in a foreign country, and I knew no one within a thousand miles. And the only person that I could depend on begged for me to be someone else. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I just.. um..I don't think we...uh" The woman looked surprised and then shook her head.

"Oh honey, please come it, come in!" She pulled me and my trunk into the house. "SHIKAKU! SHIKAMARU! GET DOWN HERE RIGHT THIS INSTANT! AND BRING SOME TOWELS!" I flushed at realizing that my manners must have seemed so rough, dripping on someone's floor.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, I didn't mean to show up like this, I just didn't have anywhere to go, I'm not exactly sure where the school is."

"There's no reason to be sorry, if anyone, us Nara's are at fault. We thought you were coming in tonight, we were going to all pick you up from the station. I can't believe you walked two miles on your own! And with those huge bags...amazing. You must have a lot of will power, missy." My lips crept up into a smile.

"Oh, it's not problem, Mrs. Nara." It was absolutely a problem and I'd sooner gouge my own eyes out than do that again, but my mouth betrayed my thoughts out of respect, "If you'd point me in the direction, I'll just go to the school to clean up, I feel bad dripping all over your floor." The woman's response was interrupted by the sound of two bodies running down the stairs with towels. They looked comically similar. The older man had two scars on his face and a spikey ponytail. The younger donned a replica style, but his face was perfectly clear of any blemishes or scars. Once they got to the foot of the stairs, they openly gaped at me. I reddened, remembering my wet dog appearance. I was sure my stupid ponytails were drooping, unlike those two guys. It's a good thing I rarely wore makeup, because it would have been drooping, too.

"Well don't just stare at the poor girl, help her out! You idiots didn't pick her up at the right time, she walked two miles in this weather to get here!" She commanded so much authority that the two men jumped into action, handing her a towel, offering something to drink, taking her bags from her. I saw a twitch of a smile on Mrs. Nara's face, probably patting herself on the back for how whipped she had those two boys. "Now, Temari. I know that you have a boarding arrangement at the school, but if you ever want a home cooked meal and a full sized bed, don't you hesitate to come and take our guest bedroom. We'll keep it perfect for you."

"Oh thank you, Mrs. Nara, but-"

"And call me Yoshino, please."

"Yosh-"

"Tea or coffee?" The older man said. These people were persistent as fuck. It's a good thing, because I was totally bluffing. I wanted nothing more than to be treated like royalty at that moment because I was thoroughly miserable from having to walk all the way there. I guess they saw through my manners.

"Oh, um, tea is fine."

"I put your bag in the room. It's heavy as fu-"

"Shikamaru, watch your tongue."

"Sorry, mom." His eyes looked down submissively, but I could tell there was a slight roll in them, too. I tried to keep myself from laughing, but they were exactly as I pictured them ever since I read their letter.

"I'm sorry, my Tessen is pure iron, that thing's like fifty pounds."

"So that's what that thing was." The younger guy said unenthusiastically.

"Temari, why don't you sit down in the kitchen with us and we can talk all about it over a cup of tea."

"Actually Dad and I-"

"Save it, Shikamaru! You're walking on thin ice as it is, leaving this poor girl out in the rain." It was quite awkward to have this poor dude scolded for something that was sort of my fault. He just rolled his eyes at his mom, probably used to her yapping, but he complied. I was sort of scared of her, I didn't want to be on her bad side. That's probably why I was being so nice. Protip: Always call parents Mr. and Mrs. They eat that polite shit up like mad, I think they get a high off of saying "please, call me *insert name *, Mrs. *insert last name * was my mother-in-law. I had laid all that on Yoshino, which is why she hilariously pulled a 180 whenever she went from addressing her kid to me.

Yoshino lead me into their kitchen, which had beautiful wood floors and cabinets and large windows that looked out into a garden and a patch of green grass that some deer were frolicking in. Delicate, transparent curtains hung from the windows. They flowed lightly because of the wind outside. Everything was so precious in this house, but the protector of it, Yoshino, was splendidly stiff and stern. Despite their contrasting natures, the juxtaposition of the woman and her house was natural and homey. I immediately liked my host mother. The four of us sat down at a wood breakfast table, the older man serving us all some tea. "So, Temari, what is this fifty pound iron thing you were talking about?" Yoshino asked.

"Oh, it's a Tessen." The woman just looked more confused so I continued, "um I do Tessenjutsu, it's a martial art for war fan techniques. It has an iron frame so it's pretty heavy." I explained.

"It's lucky our family jutsus don't require a weapon. We only need to carry ourselves." The man laughed. His wife playfully pelted him in the stomach, mumbling his name, Shikaku. I sighed in relief, I didn't remember what his name was and even though I intended on calling him Mr. Nara, I didn't want to make things awkward by saying or doing something stupid because I didn't know it.

"It's not so bad. My brother, Gaara, has to carry a gourd of sand, and the other one, Kankuro, carries his puppets, but we just get used to it. It's not so bad."

"Wait, your brother is Kankuro?"

"that's exactly what she just said, Shikamaru." His mother reprimanded. He scowled back at her, then continued.

"I've heard of him, he's super popular at our school, people are trying to raise money to get him to speak at an all school meeting." I knew he was popular back home, but I was impressed that my little brother had gone international. Good for him. "wait, isn't he the son of-" Yoshino dropped her tea cup onto the table, prompting a ruckus to clean up. I had my suspicion that it was to avoid the awkward conversation topic of my father, but I was pretty relieved. That was something I was not really ready to open up about to anyone, let alone these strangers. Even if they were really nice. Well, nice to me.

Once everything was cleaned up, the conversation of school started. I, uncharacteristically, tuned out of the conversation, mesmerized by outside. Suna rarely saw any clouds, and I was amazed at how they were moving, letting holes of blue sky reappear into the sky, making the rain stop. My thoughts were interrupted by Yoshino's comment.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?"

"What?" I was slightly confused, not having paid attention to the conversation, but then I caught on that everyone was looking out at the clouds. "Oh yes, we don't really have them in Suna."

"Well it's clearing up, maybe Shikamaru can take you out to go watch them, then you can see the town." Shikaku reasoned.

"Oh, that's right. You like cloud watching, don't you? You said so in the letter." Yoshino's face paled. I was worried that I said something wrong, but then she turned to look at her son, who sheepishly looked down at his tea.

"Shikamaru."

"Yes, mother?"

"Please tell me you didn't send that letter."

"Mom, I-"

"Tell me you didn't send this poor, lovely girl, that horrible letter." Yoshino looked like she was going to explode again, but mercifully, Shikaku intervened.

"Okay, I think Temari's had enough. School doesn't open for another few days so you're going to have to stay here for a few nights. Shikamaru put your stuff in your room, why don't you show her where it is, huh Shika?" His son nodded and obeyed, mumbling about how women were troublesome.

He led me out into the living room again, and up the beautiful staircase, then into the first room on the left.

"Here's your room." He opened the door into a simple but appealing room, then tried to leave. I stopped him.

"Wait—I've never seen a house this big, can I follow you back? I'm gonna get lost."

"Troublesome woman. Don't you want to settle in first? My mom's going to force me into going out to show you the town later, might as well rest."

"First, don't call me that. I'm very low maintenance. Second, what am I supposed to do to settle? I'm only staying a few days. And thirdly, I'm not your mother or a task master or anything like that. If you don't want to go out with me, don't. I'd rather be alone, anyways."

"That makes two of us."

"I'm glad we see eye to eye."

"Not really, you're pretty short."

"Why, you!" He promptly left, doing exactly what I asked him not to do. Stupid teenage boys. There are plenty of guys who would love to take me around the town. Well, I mean, I'm sure there are, I think they're just scared of me and my family. They probably all hate me because of my dad. But besides that, someone is bound to want to take me out.

Fuck that kid. He doesn't know the first thing about me. I don't like him a bit. Total fuck boy. I mean, his mom is nice and all, but he's just plain old rude and sexist.

After thinking about how much I hated him, I decided to give a shot at "settling in". I was used to living a pretty fast paced life, and was startled that the family just gave me down time. It was nice, just unexpected. I thought that they'd be asking me to do chores or something. Being idle wasn't my strong suit. I didn't want to unpack because then I'd just have to repack in a few days. Napping was out of the question. So I just laid on the bed, thinking. I hated it. But I thought, anyways. There was something in this house that was conducive to thinking and being lazy. I thought about my brothers and my father, I thought about Suna, and then I thought about Konoha and my new jobs, and lastly, I thought about school. Then I was done with thinking and I sat up. I saw that only ten minutes had passed. I mumbled a "fuck this" and got up. I changed into some clean clothes, then I let my hair down, letting it dry. It would probably poof up in a few minutes. I washed my face and brushed my teeth. Then I put my hair up into one ponytail. It was low and most of my hair was falling out of it since my hair was too short, but it would just have to do for now. I opened the door to leave but on the other side was Shikamaru, just about to knock on the door.

"can I help you?"

"Let's go to town."

"excuse me? I think I'd win!"

"No, troublesome, I'm going to show you around town."

"I said don't call me-"

"Oh, Temari!" Yoshino interrupted. "Let Shikamaru take you around, it will be fun!"

It took a human braver than me and Shikamaru put together to deny this lady.

"I suppose, that would be okay." I replied. Shikamaru smirked.

"You might want a coat." Yoshino said, then left to another room.

"eh, I don't need one, let's go."

"No, you probably need something bigger than that, it's like forty degrees out."

"I'm fine, really."

"Why do you have to act tough, just bring a freaking jacket!"

I desperately wanted him to just drop it, but he didn't, so I just admitted why I was being so stubborn. "This is the heaviest thing I own." I looked away, it was kind of embarrassing. I mean, I was only wearing a three quarter sleeve shirt.

"How does that—you know what? Never mind, take this, trouble." I guess that stupid nickname was going to stick. He took his army green vest and black turtleneck off, giving it to me, and went to another room (probably his) to grab a new coat. I put on his dumb turtleneck and it was too big. It was comically poofy compared to the tight leggings I was wearing. I slipped on his vest and then promptly crossed my arms, so that he'd understand that I was pissed. He walked out of his room wearing a brown wool coat and a dumb expression. He looked surprised at something.

"What are you staring at?" He just shook his head.

"Nothing, let's go." He lightly grabbed my arm, leading me to the front door (I had no idea where it was, the house was like a freaking wooden, airy maze).

The sun had set and the stars came up. The stars weren't too visible, since it was so overcast. But the distant town had lanterns of all different colors throughout, brightening up the night. Shikamaru and I walked in silence. I didn't want to talk, anyways. Once we approached the town, I got nervous. I knew people would stare, and I didn't want to talk about why.

"Will you show me the Yamanaka flower shop and Ichiraku Ramen?"

"I suppose. The Yamanakas are family friends."

"That so?"

"Yeah, they have a girl who's our age named Ino. She's loud, but pretty. Much prettier than you." I punched him in the arm, hard.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Who says shit like that? Honestly, didn't your mother ever teach you how to be nice?" I expected him to respond, or at least laugh, most boys said hurtful shit like that to get a rise out of you, but he just shrugged and continued walking.

"You punch hard."

"I don't care about your opinion."

"Tch."

The rest of our walk was in tension filled silence, until we reached the Yamanaka's. Shikamaru opened the door for me (what the hell?) and called for Ino. She had been daydreaming behind the counter, then shot up and ran to us.

"oh my god, is this the new girl?!"

"yeah. Temari no Sabaku, this is Ino Yamanaka, Ino Yamanaka, this is Temari no Sabaku."

"No Sabaku? The name sounds familiar." She went into a thinking position, but Temari quickly put an end to any thinking about her last name.

"Yeah, I'm actually going to be working here."

"Oh, you're the girl that daddy hired? I had no idea she was the exchange student, I thought she'd be an adult. But it makes sense. I suppose you're pretty enough to be my replacement." What is it about this town and beauty?

"Is that important to arrange flowers?" Shikamaru asked exactly what I was thinking.

"No, but it does wonders for customer service. I'm so glad to not have to do this crap anymore. You'll probably do better than I do, I have nicer hair, but your boobs are bigger." Okay, people in this town are way blunt. I was known for being blunt, too, but I had to be polite, I didn't want to scare off some girl that was going to be my classmate.

"Leave her alone, Ino." She shrugged.

"Well, I have to close shop now. See you at school?"

"Yeah."

We left the flower shop and he took me closer to the heart of town. People were staring openly.

"Why are people staring?" He asked me in an accusatory way.

"I don't know. So, are you taking me to Ichiraku Ramen?"

"If you're in the mood."

"No, I just want to know where it is. I'm going to be working there, too."

"Oh." I think Shikamaru was worried that he overstepped his boundaries. Rich people were always kind of quiet when they realized that people were poorer than them, they knew it was beyond their limits understanding having to work jobs like the ones I have.

"Well, the stand's up there." He pointed to a corner where a happy looking stand stood with a healthy amount of customers and a delectable aroma encompassing it. "Do you wanna eat there, anyways? I'm kind of hungry."

"I'm not hungry." But my stomach betrayed me and grumbled. "traitor." I mumbled. He laughed at me. Wow, he had straight, white, teeth.

"Let's go eat."

I introduced myself to Teuchi and Ayame and I ordered whatever the hell Shikamaru ordered. I've never had ramen so I didn't know what was good. Our dinner was interrupted by some blonde kid who thought it was socially acceptable to wear an orange jumpsuit.

"Eyy Shikamaru. You sure are a cheap date, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Naruto. I'm this girl's guide."

"Why hello there! I'm Naruto Uzumaki. The future Hokage of this place." He said obnoxiously with a fake suave voice.

"Not with your grades, no."

"School is stupid, I have the raw power to be one, believe it!"

"No one wants a Hokage that can't pass algebra. That's why we go to school."

"What do you think, new girl?"

"I have a name."

"what is it?"

"Temari." I was glad he didn't ask for a last name. Instead, he reached into his pockets and grabbed temari balls.

"Look, Temari, it's you!"

"Wow, comedic gold. Shikamaru, can we go now?"

"See you round, Naruto."

"Bye Temari, Bye Shikamaru! Remember to use protection!" We both flipped him off and walked back home.


	3. Chapter 3

I spent the next few days at the Nara compound, mostly doing boring shit. I got all my transfer paperwork done, I visited the embassy to get my school and working visa, I even got a haircut. The most difficult part of the preparations for school was the uniform. It was just atrocious. Sure, when I was getting my skirt tailored I saw plenty of girls who could really pull off the cute sailor look. I was not one of them. I looked like I was busting (pun intended) out of my button up long sleeved shirt, and the navy pleated skirt was just too short for my hips. I looked like a slutty baby, it was awful. The tailor, I think, just gave up trying to make me look socially acceptable and sent me on my way.

The day before school started, I finally moved into the dorms at school. It was a small room, intended for two people to live in, but since there weren't a lot of kids living on campus, most people were able to get their own room. I ran into that Naruto kid, you know, the one that thought that me and that idiot Shikamaru were going out? Yeah, he lives across the hall from me. He's actually not too bad of a neighbor. He always invites me out to ramen and he's really friendly, just annoying as fuck. My dad told me that he was hosting the nine tails and that's why everyone hates him. I know I'm not supposed to say anything, and I won't, but I feel like, since he's hosting a demon inside him, he should get more sympathy. Just like Gaara, he saved his village by sacrificing so much, it's totally unfair. But, since I can't just yell out that Naruto should get a break for being an idiot because there's a demon inside him, I just act as nice as I can to him, until my patience runs out. Which is quite fast, but I do put in a reasonable effort. More than most people. Like, for example, a few days ago, I saw some pink haired girl totally grill him for asking her out. Like, he wasn't even being disrespectful or nothing, he just asked her if she wanted to get ramen, just like how he'd invite me out, and then she just went full on psycho and went on and on about some Uchiha kid.

I'm not gonna lie, the day before school started, I was starting to get nervous. I didn't really recognize the emotion, but I didn't eat dinner and I couldn't fall asleep. It was really stupid and I'm embarrassed to say it. I mean, I'm Temari no Sabaku, the daughter of a powerful politician, cruelest kunoichi, total BAMF, and I was scared of meeting some crusty teenagers...unbelievable.

As I got up the morning of the first day and looked in the mirror, I thanked Kami that I had woken up early. I was an absolute nightmare to look at. If these kids were going to know who the fuck was top, I'd need to put in a tiny bit of effort with my looks. Not that I was trying to impress anyone or anything... The idiot hairdresser had cut my hair too short, so I had to stick with two low buns and my bangs (I'd like to think, tastefully) falling on my face. My face was not even worth trying to fix with makeup. There was stress acne and dark circles because of my lack of sleep. I almost punched the mirror, but I decided against it. Too expensive. I slipped on that god damn stupid uniform and left my room before something else went wrong.

When I walked down the hall, I heard Naruto snoring, and decided that, as a good friend, I should wake him up. After I knocked, I heard some crashing and yelping on the other side of the door, then the poor kid opened it, looking tired. He still had on some footie pajamas and a night cap. He yawned happily.

"Good morning, Temari." His eyes were drooping.

"School starts in ten minutes." I didn't need to beat around the bush. His eyes widened and he raced back into his room and haphazardly stripped and put on his uniform. "Should I wait? Or?"

"Shikamaru's probably outside, I'll see you in class!" I wasn't about to ask for help, I'm just not that kind of person, but I kind of wanted to wait for Naruto. I had no idea where I was going, and Shikamaru was useless, he was probably asleep, somewhere. But I nodded and left, closing the door behind me. I took a deep breath and tried to remember how to get out of the building and get to the front of the school. I just couldn't. I'm one of the most intelligent people in Suna, but I just can't piece together directions, I'm terrible at following or giving them. I'm constantly lost.

As I got out of the building, I headed towards a building that looked administrator-y enough for me to stop by and get directions. But I was pulled back by a certain lazy ass. He had the audacity to grab my fucking arm. I didn't know who it was, since he was stupidly hiding in the shadows, so I decked him in the nose. He yelped loudly.

"Oh, hey. Sorry, I didn't see you there." He kept clutching his nose, tears streaming down his face. Probably because of the location of the hit more than the intensity. "Don't go crying on me now, I sort of need directions to school. Mind taking me there? You are technically my guide, aren't you?" He nodded grimly and motioned for me to follow him. God, he was such a cry baby. I didn't hit him that hard.

We walked in god knows what direction for god knows how long, until we reached the Konoha Academy. It was a pretty campus, lots of space and plants. School kids were all over the place, dressed in the same uniform that I was in, only everyone else looked a thousand times better.

Maybe it was my own teenage self consciousness/ego but I felt everyone's gaze. I mean, it wasn't all that unrealistic if everyone was staring at me. I am a hot piece of ass, who is also mysterious and completely foreign to everyone. But I was feeling pretty awkward. I kept trying to pull my skirt down and adjusted the stupid sailor tie thing.

"Don't they make the skirts any longer?" The lazy ass asked me.

"Can it, crybaby." He rolled his eyes and kicked a pebble out of his way. I followed him inside the building, and into the front office.

"This is Temari no Sabaku, she's the new transfer student." Shikamaru said to a woman with short black hair and a pig in her arms.

"She has to meet with Tsunade and then I'll show her to her homeroom, you should head to class." I watched him leave without a second thought. I was kind of offended because I didn't want him to stay with me, but I wanted him to want to stay with me. It was a weird emotion. "Please, follow me." She took me to Tsunade, the headmistress' office. She was beautiful. "M'lady, this is Temari no Sabaku, the new transfer student." Tsunade had her head resting on her entwined fingers.

"Yes, I'm glad you made it here safe, Temari."

"Thank you, M'lady."

"I trust Nara didn't cause you any trouble." I hesitated.

"Ummm, no M'lady, everything's great." I lied.

"Great well, here is your schedule." She handed me a piece of paper with my classes and the room number. "Here in the Academy we have normal classes for the core curriculum, science, math, history, and so on. We have extra training for electives, you have signed up for weapons or wind users, and then each class is divided into three men cell groups, with people in different electives, so that every type of skill is available. These groups go out on missions every few weeks and share one sensei. You were already told all this, correct?"

"Correct."

"Well then, Shizune will lead you to your homeroom. Have a nice first day, if you need anything, feel free to schedule an appointment with me, I'd be happy to discuss it." I liked her. She was straight to the point, no nonsense, but polite. Just my style.

The woman with the pig came back and lead me to my fate, I mean, homeroom. The classroom was big and decorated with homeroom pride signs saying "Konoha 12" or "Rookie nine" whatever the hell that meant. There was an array of people there. One guy with dark glasses and some beetles in the corner, a guy with red triangle tattoos on his face and a dog, the same pink haired girl who blew Naruto off, the guy she was in lust with, the one with the birds hair, the Yamanaka girl, the lazy ass, the fat ass, some shy girl with a nice rack, some people I can't remember. Shizune whispered something to the teacher, a man with brown hair and a strange metal mask around his face, then she abandoned me.

"Listen up, class." He had a calm voice that hardly anyone heard. He repeated his words, this time with just enough of a sinister tone to get everyone's attention, along with scaring the crap out of everyone. Naruto visibly shivered. "We have a new student, all the way from Suna." I gave a wave and then wanted to retreat to a desk, preferably somewhere at the back of the room, but there were only twelve desks, and each one was taken. I looked awkwardly around, begging for someone to help me out. I looked to the teacher for help, but he was too busy starring everyone down to notice my stupid struggling. Finally, it was Ino who, at least, attempted to break the awkward silence.

"What's your name, Temari?"

"uhh.."

"What's it like in Suna?" some guy with the bushiest eye brows you've ever seen asked.

"Why is your name a children's toy?"

"Why'd you transfer?"

"How long will you be here?"

"Who are your parents?"

"What Jutsus do you know?"

"Did you hear about the political scandal in Suna? Some politician knocked this poor girl up and it caused-"

I didn't see who said that, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let him finish his thought.

"Enough! Yes, my name is Temari, Suna is terrible but it's home, I didn't give myself my name, I have no idea why it's my name. I transferred because of family issues, I'll be here at least until graduation, you wouldn't know my parents, and I use a Tessen and wind release." My burst put everyone silent in the room. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot. "Any more questions?" Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew I shouldn't have snapped at them. I was trying the whole "play it cool" thing and it backfired in like thirty seconds. Everyone was openly staring at me.

"Well, Temari, thank you for sharing." The teacher said awkwardly. He used a jutsu to make a wooden desk for me in the far corner of the room. I'd never actually seen a wood release so I was impressed. I politely thanked him, flashed a fake smile and retreated to the desk. "I'm Mr. Yamato, it's nice to meet all of you."

Homeroom was boring. The next class was boring. The one after that was boring. Once history was over and the teacher released us for lunch, I started to panic. I didn't know what to do with myself for the next hour, and I couldn't go far, or else I'd never find my way back without major embarrassment. I was the last person to leave the classroom, stalling by taking forever to pack all my shit in my bag. The teacher looked annoyed at my lagging. Back in grade school, the teacher knew that I wasn't popular and would let me stay in her room during recess, talk to her, usually read. But this teacher looked weirded out by me, she wouldn't even make eye contact.

I walked out of the classroom and followed (inconspicuously) a group of seniors who were on their way to the cafeteria. It's not like I had any money on me, I don't really know why I followed them. I could hear the racket the students were making from all the way down the hall. But once I got to the entrance, it was hushed, only whispers were exchanged and it still felt like every pair of eyes was on me. Some part of me wanted to stand on a table and scold them just like I scolded the homeroom, and another part of me wanted to bolt right out of there. I chose the latter option, the first one wasn't so prudent. In all honesty, the option I chose was only marginally better. I stood there for awhile, surveying the scene, looking for a familiar face. I saw Shikamaru and Ino and all those idiots from homeroom, and they looked back at me, but I could tell how shut off they were. And I don't blame them, not after the shit I pulled in homeroom today. I stood in the entrance like an idiot, watching everybody watch me, no,  _judge_  me. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, looking like a god damned fish probably, then fled.

I don't know where I was going and I couldn't tell you how I ended up there, but somehow, I was on the training grounds. I ran straight into some green beast and fell right on my ass. Scowling, I stood up, ready to attack this motherfucker.

"Welcome, new youth of Suna! How are you on this fine day?"

"Who the hell are you?" This guy tried to give me, what he probably thought was, a winning smile, but just made me uncomfortable.

"I'm Might Guy, Konoha's Green Beast of Prey, and you..." He gave me an animated point, making me go cross eyed, "are Temari no Sabaku of Suna. Daughter of the fourth."

"Maybe I am...how did you figure all that out?"

A new voice entered, one more bored sounding.

"he didn't, I did." A man appeared, grey hair and half masked. He threw up a peace sign. "Yoo I'm Kakashi Hatake."

"I know who you are." I responded. "But you still haven't answered my question. Tell me all that you know about me." The green guy just smiled, but Kakashi gave my words some thought.

"Well you're 16 years old, your weight is-"

"I didn't mean my stats, I meant how do you know my family."

"Doesn't everyone know your family?"

"Not in this town. They're not supposed to." I was growing irritated that this small, stupid town was so susceptible to a good political scandal. I frowned and crossed my arms.

"I wouldn't worry about it, kid." Kakashi said. "People are judging you now, but it's only because you're new. It'll die down soon."

"I'm not worried, and don't call me kid."

"Alright then, Temari. Nice meeting you." Kakashi poofed away, and the green beast was running off somewhere. For some reason, because he was so far away, it kind of looked like he was running on his hands. Weird.

When I walked back inside the building, Shikamaru was waiting for me.

"Oi, trouble. You can't run off like that, why didn't you just sit with us?"

"Stupid crybaby, don't tell me what to do. You all obviously didn't want to sit with me."

"tch." I noticed how he didn't deny it. It stung a little. I didn't exactly make a good first impression, but again, I wanted him to want me. But not because I wanted him. We walked together to advanced math class. I took the seat next to him at his insistence. This class was strange because we weren't with the rest of our homeroom, we were with a mix of people from other homerooms, too. One guy with jet black hair and purple eyes entered the room. He had a crazy look in his eye, obviously directed at me. I could tell something bad was going to happen between the two of us, but I didn't know when. I never calculated that he would make his move so soon, but just as I was thinking of ways to avoid this guy, he walked up to me and poured a forty ounce cup of soda all over me. At first, I was too shocked to move. Everyone was. But then, my eyes started stinging, I desperately groped whatever I could find to clean my eyes, but it was pretty futile. When the teacher walked in, naturally, she asked what was going on and the kid, of course, blamed the whole situation on me. I ran out of the room to find a bathroom to clean up, so I didn't know all that transpired while I was gone.

Months later, I found out that Shikamaru decked him right in the face and had to be held back by Chouji to stop fighting, and both were sent to Tsunade. Not only that, but everyone in the class took my side. They were witnesses to the "crime" and unlike in Suna, they were honest and told the teacher that I was the victim.

In the bathroom, I might have cried a little. The soda stung. My hair was even more of a mess. The stupid uniform was transparent now and I was just so stressed. Today had been so rough and I was so, so tired. I gave up with my "everything's okay" façade and cried in the privacy of the bathroom, until I heard some girls walking in. That's when I sobered up, gathered my wits and went back to the world's most awkward class.

The first day of school only met with core academic studies, not jutsus or anything. So after that class, I got to go back to the sweet privacy of the dorm. Naruto offered to take me back there, since he needed to change before his training. I changed into my Yamanaka flower shop uniform, which was just normal clothes with a green apron, but, seeing as that I had an hour before I needed to leave, I took a much needed nap.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: this week has been pretty awful. So much fucking school work! Plus, my mom's finishing her dissertation so like...the whole house radiated stress. But, I hope this chapter is okay! Sorry that it took awhile. I experimented with changing POV so watch out for that.

Shikamaru POV

This is going to be hard because I have no idea what goes on in a boy's mind

Eight hours in and I had already failed my first mission. Lady Tsunade had insisted, when she first gave me the assignment, that it wasn't technically a mission because she wasn't requiring me to do it, it was just a gentle demand that I absolutely could refuse. It was a blatant lie and we both knew it, just like we both knew that I was way too lazy to call her out on it. So I was stuck being Temari's escort.

The first day of school was always bad, I kept telling myself. I mean, it could have gone better, but she made some friends. Actually, she didn't. But it was too troublesome to worry about. I made plans with Asuma to play shougi so I was trying to think about strategies. But school kept coming to my mind. I kept on replaying the scenario in my head of when that idiot Kazuyuki poured his drink on her. Stupid bullying like that happens all the time at our school. Most kids with no friends get drinks poured on them. But her face when she was trying to recover was unbearable. Something struck. It was weird because I try to use reason and logic before I take any action, but when I flat out punched him in the face, it was instinctual.

I didn't tell Tsunade any of that. When she asked me why I did it, I made up that I did it because I was her escort and that it was my duty to stand up for her. Tsunade seemed to buy it. I faked a yawn, and told her I had to meet up with Asuma and she let me go quickly, just requiring me to do some detention for breaking school rules. We both knew I was going to fall asleep for that.

The Yamanaka flower shop was on the way to the training grounds. I really thought that Ino wasn't going to be there, which is why I didn't bother avoiding it, but Ino was there. She kept hollering at me to come over to her. I quickly went through the pros and cons of ignoring her and continuing my walk, but I decided I might as well stop for a second.

"Hi Ino. I'm going to go play shougi with Asuma." I tried leaving, but she pulled on my arm.

"No, wait! After school I saw Asuma and Kurenai at a tea shop. Please, don't interrupt them!"

"Why not?"

"Shikamaru, you know why. There's no way that someone with an iq of yours doesn't know exactly why I want you to leave them alone."

"He keeps saying that they're not dating. Just leave it alone, Ino."

"You're so stupid, Shikamaru. If you don't leave them alone, I'm going to knock the daylight out of you."

"tch."

She kept threatening me, then talking about how perfect Kurenai and Asuma were, then going back to threatening me, until two more blonds joined us in front of the flower shop. One was Naruto, and next to him was a cleanup up Temari in her uniform, but an added green apron. I had completely forgot that she told me she was going to be working here.

"Hey Shikamaru! Hey Ino!" Naruto belted out. "Did you see Asuma and Kurenai on their date?"

"Yes! See Shikamaru? Even Naruto sees that they're in love." To this, Temari replied.

"Please, Naruto thinks everyone's dating. He just sees two people together and assumes it."

Ino objected. "Naruto, actually has a track record of being one hundred percent right when it comes to guessing couples."

"Not anymore, he thought Shikamaru and I were dating. Idiot." Temari crossed her arms, I scratched the back of my head and looked away, embarrassed by the memory. Ino paused for a moment, contemplating it. Before she could jump to any conclusions, I stopped her.

"Well, Naruto. Since Asuma is busy, why don't we go spar. You're on your way there, aren't you?" It was out of character and I knew it was going to be troublesome, but it was the most efficient way that I could end this conversation.

"huh?" Naruto looked at me like I was from another planet.

"Lets go, moron." I didn't wait for him to follow me, I knew he would.

Ino POV

I watched them leave, but not for nearly as long as Temari did. That girl was probably starring at Shikamaru's ass. Understandable, it was nice, but he was too much of a brother-figure to me to actually consider tapping that. Being the queen of gossip in Konoha, I was determined to befriend Temari. Every single piece of gossip from today at school revolved around her. Everyone wanted to know who she was, what political scandals her family caused, why she came here, why she needed a job, who her brothers were...

I also wanted to be friends with her because I liked her, don't get me wrong. She was blunt and a little rude, but I liked it. We didn't clash at all. She didn't try to go after Sasuke, she didn't try to look prettier than me, and her hair was short. That's about all that I required for someone to be my friend.

"So, why are you still here? I thought your dad said you were retiring. I sort of depend on that to keep my job."

"Oh, right. Well I'm supposed to use this time to train, but Asuma's busy."

"Oh. So, should I leave?"

"NO!" I responded a little too quickly. "I mean, we can both do the job." I needed her to work at our flower shop in order to suck all the information I could out of her.

"Uh, okay. Is you're dad here? In the letter he sent he said he would tell me my responsibilities in person, so I don't really know what to do."

"Oh, I can do that."

I took her to the back and taught her all the arrangements she needed to know, but she didn't need me. She was a natural. Quite the green thumb on that one. "did you plant back at home?"

"Somewhat. Plants don't grow well in the desert, as you can probably imagine. But we had a greenhouse, back at our old home."

"Old home?"

"Yeah, we moved."

"Really, why?"

"My father passed away."

I did want to extort information out of her, but I paused upon hearing this. There was more to her than I ever thought there would be. My compassion overran my need for gossip.

"I'm really sorry, Temari. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"I don't care, he was terrible." She shrugged, shrugged!

That really shook my world upside down. My father meant everything to me. It was so foreign, the idea of shrugging at your father's death. She must have seen my confusion in my face. She added, "he made my brother's and my lives miserable. Not to mention the fear most people in my village live in because of his poor life choices. I can't respect him at all. I can't even forgive him."

Suddenly, "sorry" didn't even sound acceptable. I was really trying hard to say something about it, but I was way in over my head. I didn't care about the gossip in her family anymore.

"Well, I'm glad you're here with us."

"Ha, I don't think a lot of your classmates share your sentiment..." She turned to take some arrangements to the display room. "but thank you."

"Hey, you know, I heard about what happened with Kazuyuki." I followed her into the display room. "He's an idiot. A real bully. He once cut off my hair, you know?"

"No, I didn't." She didn't seem all that interested, though. She just wiped her hands on her apron and went back to arranging more flowers.

"Yeah, and he was really mean to Chouji about his weight. Can you believe that? I'm the only one allowed to comment on it! He told him he couldn't play with them, anymore."

"So I take it this was in grade school?" I grimaced.

"Yeah. I guess. But people don't forget things like that. We all hate him, and if we don't show it, it's because we're scared. He comes from a real powerful clan. They work in the torture department of law enforcement. Really scary. They moved here right after he was born from the sound. And you know the reputation they have."

"They probably took off after Orochimaru, no?"

"Probably. They're still scary as hell, though." Since she got the hang of the arranging, I decided to just sit by the cashier and do my nails. "Hey, Temari?"

"Yes?" she called from the back.

"Did you pass the written portion of the chunin exam?"

"with flying colors, why do you ask?"

"well, since they got rid of the second part of the exam, which I'm so glad of, because I would not survive a day out in the wilderness, I'm getting kind of nervous for the third part. Are you?"

"I'm not. In all likelihood they're just going to make us fight someone either in our teams of three or one on one and that's it."

"You think so? Who's in your team?"

"My two brothers."

"Have I heard of them? What are their jutsus?"

"Probably. They're quite infamous."

"infamous?" I probably had stars in my eyes. Finally, some gossip!

"Yeah, infamous. Kankuro, a puppeteer, is one of them."

"you're kidding me!"

"I found out a few days ago from Shikamaru that he's even popular here."

"people love him here! He's not infamous. Some people think he's weird, sure, but he has a cult following, practically."

"Yeah, well he learned from the best."

"who was his sensei?"

"Lady Chiyo." I gasped.

"No!"

"yes. Do you want to hear about my other brother?" I knew she was egging me on. I was overreacting to her and I knew it, but I couldn't help it.

"Of course..."

"His name is Gaara."

"Stop it!"

Surprisingly, she actually did stop. She stopped talking altogether and silently made her arrangements. "not really, silly. I meant like 'no way, that's so cool' not like 'stop talking'."

"Oh." She looked a little embarrassed. "I've never heard that expression before."

"Yeah, go on." She chuckled a bit.

"Well Gaara, he's special. Our dad tried to kill him a lot during our childhood for reasons..." I was smiling like an idiot right now, not that I should have been, that was a really fucked up thing of her dad to do. "I'm sorry, but I don't have authorization to explain what for."

"No!"

"Sorry." That bitch wasn't sorry one bit. "So he had to learn from a young age to defend himself. His defense system is impenetrable. He uses the sand from his gourd as a shield. I'm not allowed to say anymore, though. I hope that satiates your gossip."

"Oh, it does."

"Don't spread that!"

"Don't worry, I won't. I just have to go see Sakura for something..." I ran off to go tell everyone I ever met all of that. This girl and her family were wild! But I would leave out the stuff about her dad, that was just too personal to tell anyone...

Once I spread the gossip around town, it was starting to get dark. Temari was still making the arrangements. She practically made an assembly line and mass producing those things. She made more than I make in a week!

"Hey Temari!"

"Hello, Ino. I'm going to close shop soon."

"Oh, I can do that for you."

"Thanks." She put her apron up and washed her hands. "So, did you tell everyone about my family?"

I reddened. "Of course not!"

"Right... I don't care. But would you help me out with one thing?"

"Sure!" I was looking for something to help her with, mostly to ease my guilt.

"So, I have to go to Ichiraku's to work a night shift. Mind showing me where it is?"

"Which one?"

"It's a chain?"

"No. But since his daughter, Ayame, went back to school, they opened up a new restaurant. They still have the stand, but now they have this swanky new place that has a whole new menu! It's amazing, and so romantic." She clearly wasn't that interested. She just handed me a piece of paper with an address.

"This is the address I'm working at. They sent it to me in a letter."

"you're working at Chez Ichiraku! Oh my god, I'm jealous!"

"You want a job as a waitress?" She cocked an eyebrow, not buying any of it.

"Not really, but you probably get a discount and get to eat all that delicious Tsukemen."

"I suppose. I'm just gonna change first, then will you take me?"

"Of course." She just stared at me. "Oh, right, you probably want a bathroom to change in..."

When she stepped out of the bathroom, she actually looked nice. The uniform was kind of like our school uniform, but black and more professional looking. I helped her with the bow on her neck and on her apron.

"You know, you actually look good."

"Actually?"

"no, don't get me wrong."

"I suppose I don't blame you, the school uniform looks atrocious on me."

"It doesn't look atrocious! It's just, a bit..."

"slutty?"

"I was going to say revealing. It's kind of like my Halloween costume from last year."

"Ha!" Her laugh was the most unusual but spectacular thing. It was awkward, like she'd only done it twice in her life.

"I'll take your school uniform, mom's doing the laundry tonight anyways."

"Oh, thanks."

"No problem."

Temari POV

Ino was surprisingly agreeable. I didn't have any expectation for the little ditz, but after spending an afternoon with her, I sort of felt bad calling her a ditz. Sure, she was pretty much just focused on getting information out of me, but I can't really blame her for it, it's in her blood. Literally, because her family's jutsu is mind control. I ended up telling her a lot about myself, which was unexpected. It's not like I could trust her. I guess, in a way, I was just looking for her hilarious reactions on everything I said. It was nice to feel important without feeling like a specimen. She wanted to hear what I had to say, which was a good change of pace from my life in Suna, where no one would listen to me.

She kept on talking about Sasuke on our way to the restaurant, but from what I could tell, he's a total asshole who ripped Ino and Sakura apart. I feel bad for them, I couldn't imagine romance getting in the way of a friendship, I could never let that happen. Then again, friendships are such a rare thing to happen to me, I don't think I really let anything get in the way of them.

The restaurant was swanky and romantic, just like Ino said. It was pretty comedic seeing the change from the stand that Shikamaru took me to, to the romantic candle-lit place I was working at. You know a place is fancy if it has a French name and no artificial light source. Actually, that always kind of bugged me in restaurants. If a place is so fancy, why can't they afford the light bill?

I felt a lot more confident once I got to change into this uniform. I didn't get catcalled in this, which was nice. Ayame was the manager of the place, and she was quite the little harpy. She would sit around barking orders at the other girls, sometimes even barking at her own customers. She didn't yell at me. She tried to, at first, but I stared her down. I think she was scared of me, for the first few hours. But once it was closing time, I could see she was tired. I offered to take over, and I think ever since then, we've gotten on better terms. I got to yell at everyone and I closed up the restaurant. I think she was thankful for it.

Once everyone left, I wished I had brought some extra clothing. The uniform was better than the school's, but it was stiff. I reprimanded myself for complaining and just walked back to the dorms. At least, that was my intention. I walked towards what I thought was the general direction of the school, but I was actually walking towards the end of town, back where the prominent clan's compounds were. I think I realized at some point that I was going the wrong way, so I turned, but it wasn't into another street, but rather, an alley. I groaned and turned around, finally accepting the fact that I was lost. Some bastard was in the way of me leaving, however.

"can I help you?"

"Yeah, you can help me."

"It was rhetorical. I've had a long fucking day, I want to go home."

"listen here, you little bitch." He didn't really finish the thought, however, because he tried to, and I stress,  _tried_  to, choke me and pin me to the wall. However, I was stronger, faster, and smarter than this asshole. I had him on his back in five seconds flat.

"Idiot." I muttered. I walked to his head to asses his condition. "knocked out, and...fuck. that is an unconscious Kazuyuki. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" Now I had my social status to think about. Plus, someone was possibly stalking me. I walked to the first house I found, and knocked on the door. It turns out I was more lost than I thought, because I was on the Nara compound, and a very tired looking Shikamaru opened the door.

"oh, hey Shikamaru. Can I borrow your phone? There's a guy who probably needs some medical attention." He took a while to register my request.

"Temari? What the fuck are you doing here."

"I got a little lost." I shrugged nonchalantly. "so, you're phone?"

"uh..." He didn't get to respond because a livid Yoshino pushed him out of the way.

"Oh, honey! Are you okay? Can I get you something? You look lovely. What are you doing here so late? Shikamaru!"

She led me into her house, giving me some tea (which I for sure did not ask for) and sat me down on a couch.

"Actually, Yoshino, could I just borrow your phone for a second? I just need to call 911, some guy is out cold over there and I know he goes to our school, so"

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry you had to see that! I assumed Shikamaru would have dropped you off at your dorm, what are you doing here?"

I was beginning to get a little frustrated that she was not paying attention to me at all, instead, she was much more interested in my life.

"well I was at work, my shift just ended."

"Shikamaru!"

"Yes mother?" He called from the kitchen.

"What's your excuse?"

I heard him muttering as he stopped whatever the hell he was doing to come and respond to his mother.

"What have I done now, mother?"

"Quit your retort. Why did you not accompany Temari home after her shift?"

"I didn't know she was working today."

I rolled my eyes, he for sure knew I was working today, he fucking saw me. His mother caught on, however. She was not pleased, I could tell she was about to yell at her son, but I stopped her, thinking about a more important issue at hand.

"Yoshino, I promise you that your son had no idea I was working today, I just forgot to tell him, then I got a little lost."

"Honey, you didn't get a little lost, your more than four miles away from where you're supposed to be."

"Right, but this kid from school might be seriously injured, he had blood coming out of his nose, so if we could call someone first, that would be great."

"Yes, let's talk about this first. You said he was from school, who was it?"

"Um, his name is Kazuyuki, I think. He has black hair, purple eyes..."

Shikamaru looked up from his school work to look at me.

"I'll go get him, mom."

"Oh, no you won't. You don't think the headmistress called me today? I know all about you and Kazuyuki."

"What happened with you and Kazuyuki?" I asked him. He, of course, ignored me.

"then do you know why I was in her office?"

"I'm going to go wake up your father, he'll sort this out."

I was utterly confused, but too tired to try and work it out. I guess it showed, because the Naras stopped talking to look at me. My eyes were drooping, I was falling asleep on my hand.

"Okay, sweetie. Why don't you sleep in the guest bedroom?"

"Oh, I'm really okay. If you'd just point me in the direction of the dorms, I'll just be on my way."

"No you won't." Surprisingly, Shikamaru said. "There's idiots like Kazu there at this time of night. Just sleep here, trouble."

"Look, I'm fine on my own, I just need to go home."

Yoshino was already out of the room, setting up the guest room.

"Look, trouble, it's a man's job to-"

"Listen here, sexist idiot. I had that moron to the floor in less than ten seconds, I can handle myself."

He looked mildly surprised that it was me who took him down.

"you're the reason Kazu's on the floor unconscious?"

"yeah, but don't tell people that. I don't need people thinking I'm going to attack them for stupid things."

"it's not stupid, he fucking poured soda all over you."

"I don't care about that, he was trying to choke me, before."

"Choke you!"

"Yeah, he tried to trap me in an alley and he tried for my neck. It didn't work, of course."

I was pissed. This guy was unbelievable, interrogating me at an hour like this. I was so tired I wasn't even going to complain and demand to go to my dorm, I was going to stay the night at his house.

"How the-" Because god is merciful, Yoshino interrupted our horrible conversation and led me to the guest bedroom.

"Good night, Temari! I'll make you a nice breakfast tomorrow and you can tell me all about your first day."

Or, she said something like that. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I love reviews, I sort of prefer constructive criticism (or just any positive note) to trash but I'll take what I can get. It's one in the morning and I have a busy day tomorrow and I should go to sleep but there is a BIRD who is making a RACKET outside I want to shoot it (no I don't). Also, Sakura is my fav, so it pains me to make her an antagonist sort of. I hate this chapter so much.

Temari POV

Back in Suna, I used to think that the only thing worse than the first day of school was the second day. Usually the teachers take it easy on you the first day, we don't have much to do except for introduce ourselves and talk about our summers. Second day of school, the reality of the burdensome routine comes to play. But in Konoha, nothing was worse than that first day of school. That one day was more eventful than every single day of my summer combined. That was an overstatement, but still. I mean, come on. The second day of school at Konoha was actually a relief. I got to be quiet and studious. We started doing physical training and I got to impress people with my tessen and my wind release. But besides blowing everyone away, literally, it was mostly quiet. I'd go to school, pay attention in class, hide somewhere during lunch, go back to being studious, go to work, and then Shikamaru would take me back to the dorms.

A few weeks in, Ino found my favorite hiding spot, on the roof of the library, and insisted that I sit with her and her friends. It was a bit overwhelming. They seemed like nice girls, but we didn't really get off to a good start. Ino and Hinata were always nice to me, but Tenten was still bitter about me beating her in the Chunin exams. Oh yeah, I took the preliminaries and passed last week. It's not a big deal though, I knew I'd get in. I'm not a Chunin yet, there's still the finals. And Sakura has always disliked me and for the life of me, I can't figure out why. Usually girls are intimidated by me, so maybe she was jealous that I surpassed her in class rank. But it seemed to go deeper than that, she was constantly glaring at me.

Three weeks later, during October, Ino dragged me to a coffee shop. We were ditching work, and I really didn't want to, but she forced me to get a pumpkin spice latte. It was alright, I guess. For some reason, Shikamaru found it really funny when I went in to get one the next day. He said I was becoming a hipster. I don't get it. The day after that, I went in to get yet another one of those tasty fuckers, and I think I walked in on something I wasn't supposed to.

Sakura and Shikamaru were there, drinking coffee and looking over some notes from class. My logical self said that they were just studying together, but she was angled towards him, their knees touched, and she kept playing with her hair, it seemed like way more. Shikamaru maintained his bored look. He glanced in my direction, and I bolted out of the shop. Romance and dating aren't really my thing so I didn't want to be caught in the middle of something. I don't know why, but for some reason, just the thought of it was making my chest ache. Strange.

I was determined to keep what I saw a secret. Ino, however, figured out something was wrong with me thirty seconds into work. I denied I saw anything, but she used her stupid jutsu and saw everything. She looked horrified, and did the strangest thing. She hugged me. I haven't been hugged in 15 years. Not since my mom died. She apologized and tried to console me. I patted her back awkwardly, not knowing how to return a hug. This was really strange, not only because I wasn't used to people being nice, but because I don't know why she thought I'd be upset.

"Ino, get off of me. Why are you apologizing?"

"Because that idiot doesn't know what he's missing!"

"What are you talking about? Sakura is lovely. She's really smart." Not as smart as me, though. "really, I don't know why you think I'm upset."

She stuttered over her words, "well I just thought- you know- how you two—never mind." I dropped the conversation and went back to carving pumpkins and making cempasúchil arrangements. I was fine, so I didn't know why I felt a lump in my throat. This was getting ridiculous.

* * *

Autumn was cold. In Suna, Autumn was horrible, it was just as, if not hotter, as it was in the summer, and on top of that, there are many natural fires, which makes being outside unbearable. Konoha was like a different planet. It was fucking freezing. It rained a lot, too. I ended up stealing Shikamaru's turtleneck the first night, but that was my first and last barrier of defense against the cold. Eventually Yoshino found out about my predicament. I thought she'd get a little peeved that I stole her son's shirt. I found that I liked the smell of it, and the glares that Sakura gave me whenever I wore it. I shouldn't have felt like that, but her death stare was too funny, her fucking eyes were twitching. Anyways, like I was saying, Yoshino wasn't mad at me, she was mad at Shikamaru, like always. She went on and on about being a bad host because I had a cold and suddenly the weather was his fault, too. She threw some money at him and forced him to take me shopping. Shopping was probably my least favorite thing, and I could tell that Shikamaru wasn't that into it either. But he was such a mama's boy that he sucked it up and took me to a department store.

Suna had one, but I didn't get to go. I usually had someone do my shopping for me because I hated it so much. I haven't been shopping in years, it was quite a culture shock. People kept shoving samples in my hands, down my throat, around me, wherever they could. They sprayed me with perfume, too, which made me light headed. I kept on getting distracted by things and Shikamaru would pull my arm, muttering about how troublesome my lack of direction was. We arrived at the winter section and it was quite romantic. The clerk offered me all kinds of things, but I interrupted her spiel on the deals she could offer.

"I need whatever articles of clothing will have an equal ratio of price to warmth." Both Shikamaru and the lady gave me an incredulous look. "what are you staring at? Is there something wrong with my request?"

"you are such a troublesome woman." The lady was intimidated, and scurried off to grab me an array of clothing. She started up a dressing room for me, and offered Shikamaru a glass of water, and sat him down in a comfortable chair. I didn't look, but I could assume that he fell asleep.

I walked in the dressing room and was promptly overwhelmed about everything. The mirror made me look horrible, the clothing made me feel suffocated, it was so freaking hot in the room. Before I burst into tears, I grabbed one of the uglier wool sweaters and stepped out of the room. I stepped up on the pedestal and looked at the three mirrors. Terrible.

"That looks nice." Idiot.

"I hate it."

"troublesome."

I went back into the room and stepped out to look at a few of the jackets I was unsure of. Shikamaru put his input on everything, which was infuriating.

"It makes you look like a pastry."

"it's warm."

"so is the other coat."

"go back to sleep."

I didn't get that coat.

When we went to the cashier to pay, I was happily holding the bags, sucking on a lollypop that the lady gave me. I felt like a child, but my taste buds were stubborn and I accepted the gift. Shikamaru was looking at the display next to the cashier. Next thing I knew, he was wrapping a cashmere scarf around me. I was stunned, so I didn't stop him. Once he was done wrapping me like a present, I gave him a scowl and growled slightly. He only laughed and told me he couldn't take me seriously when my lips were blue from a lollypop.

* * *

I returned to the department store just a week later. Ino and her posy wanted to go find some lingerie to wear as a Halloween costume. I sat down in the same chair that Shikamaru had and commented on all their costumes. They were all nice and slutty. Tenten came out wearing a leopard body suit and I almost lost it, she looked so ridiculous. But then I got jealous because she was so confident in how she looked. Ino was a bunny, Sakura a cat, and Hinata was a pumpkin. Not a sexy pumpkin, by the way. She was probably trying to match Naruto. I was tired just watching all the others change and go through so much for their costumes. I was honestly about to go to sleep, but then Ino woke me up, alerting me that it was my turn.

"What? I'm not even going anywhere, I don't need a costume."

I didn't convince her. I didn't even try because I didn't want to be that one bitch who acted like she hated Halloween and then showed up to a party being the dirtiest hoe of them all. Like in the movies. I didn't mind Halloween, other people seemed to enjoy it a lot, but it's not like I ever was invited to parties back in Suna. I never got to go trick-or-treating, my father gave me some money to go buy some candy at the store, instead.

Ino showed me a Harley Quinn costume that looked really accurate on me, probably because of the hair. I had a lot of fun in it, and I was just in the dressing room.

"You look good, Temari." I never thought Tenten would ever talk to me again, and I was kind of happy, plus excited for Halloween, for the first time.

* * *

Now, I'll tell you the most awkward experience of my life. It was the weekend before Halloween, and I was working at Chez Ichiraku. I hid a study guide on my tray, pretending like it was a receipt. I hardly looked up to take orders.

"Hi my name is Temari, I'll be your server tonight, can I start you off with something to...to." I almost dropped my tray, but at the last second, I caught the tray, bringing it to my body, my study guide going all over. "right, umm." Shikamaru and Sakura were having dinner. Sakura was staring bullets into me, and I have never felt so out of place before.

"I'll just have a water." Shikamaru said, clearly bored.

"I'll have a pink lemonade, not too much ice."

"I'll be right back with your drinks."

This was horrible. I may have spit in their drinks, heavens know. I wanted to ask someone to take over my shift, but Ayame wouldn't hear of it.

"you know, it's kind of funny. Just do it, they'll probably give you a good tip." I rolled my eyes. "you know if you keep doing that, one day you'll do it right when the wind blows, and your eyes will be stuck like that." I stopped myself from rolling them again, but it was close. She's a very superstitious girl.

I got their orders and had nothing to do but wait. I waited on other tables, and I waited and waited for their food. It took for fucking ever. I didn't have anything to do but wait behind the bar and watch as Sakura played footsie with him. I don't get why he was out with her. They were compatible, I mean, they were both very smart. They were both the favorites of Tsunade. I hated it. Did he forget I work here? Why was he here distracting me? Why was he here with her?


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I hated the last chapter, so I'd love some reviews on it. Or just my story in general. It's totally chill if you just write "this is stupid, I hate it." I just like to know what people are thinking. Anyways, last week was horrible, but spring break is almost here, so I will be able to write more, hopefully. I'm doing a male POV again, shoot me in the face... Anyways, I'd just like to remind people that this is a 1st person narration, meaning that you can't always trust someone's perception on what happens! They'll get the plot right, but certain emotions are sometimes not seen by people, etc. For example, men (sorry) are really bad, usually, at picking up body language, and understanding subtleties. Women are really good at that stuff, and can read people, emotionally. Temari and Shikamaru aren't really like that, because Shika is so smart and Temari's emotional growth was stunted due to ninja training. So that was my literary lesson (lmao go tell that to your English teachers), just try and keep that in mind when you read. Enjoy!

Shikamaru POV

Sakura and I have never been close, but we've always had mutual respect for each other. We practically grew up together, and even though Ino and Sakura had a falling out, Sakura was always considered a friend. So, one day, when I walked in on Sasuke full on yelling at her for no reason, and her crying hysterically, I was not going to be my normal, passive self. It's not that I felt particularly close to Sakura, but I felt it was my duty to help her out. Most guys felt that they had to stick up for the girls that Sasuke hurt.

Even though I was the last person she'd ever tell the story to, we were thrusted into the situation together, just because I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time. So, I was the only one that she could seek comfort in. She couldn't talk to Naruto, because she didn't want Naruto and Sasuke to fight, and she couldn't tell her best friend, Ino, even, because she just thought that Ino would take Sasuke's side. So, I helped her out. I went out with her, helped her get back on her two feet. I know I may seem like a misogynistic lazy asshole, and I'm not denying that I am, but I do have empathy. I am quite loyal to the Konoha 11 and would sacrifice a lot for them. So I took her out to coffee, we got a few dinners, and took a few walks. It ended up seeming like a date, even though the real motive for going out was to convince her to talk to Ino, so that she could deal with this mess. I really was the wrong person to do this, and those stupid girls needed to sort out whatever shenanigans Sasuke got them into.

Sakura tried to make a move after that dinner at Ichiraku. I immediately put an end to it, mortified that it had happened. I mean, she was embarrassed about the whole thing and said that she was just caught up in the romance of the place, and she just was really desperate and lonely. I get that, and I don't think she should be embarrassed, but she was seriously barking up the wrong tree. Okay, that kind of makes me sound gay, but I mean, I would never date Sakura, it would be like dating a cousin.

After school, one day, I was walking with her to the training grounds, and as we walked passed the Yamanaka shop, she glared with an intensity that could tear someone to shreds and the only person in the shop, Temari. I knew that she and Temari didn't get along, but she shouldn't be so hostile to her. Not that I'm being protective of Temari, or anything, that would be troublesome. I just mean, to stop any more trouble from happening, they shouldn't fight. Yeah...

Anyways, a few days later, I ended up asking her what was wrong with Temari, and now I sort of wished I hadn't. The story took far too long and she was crying through most of it. I was quite the cry baby myself, as Temari frequently liked to remind me, but I didn't really know how to deal with emotional girls. I tried my hardest, patting her awkwardly on her back, but I was way in over my head.

Anyways, the story went that Sasuke developed a crush on the new girl, Temari, and ended up taunting Sakura about it, or something. She was really upset, obviously, because everyone can see that Sakura worships the ground that Sasuke walks on. Well he specifically used Temari and Ino as a way of messing with her. It's weird, I always thought that he was too apathetic about his feelings towards Sakura to actually go through the trouble of manipulating her so much.

"Don't worry about me Shikamaru, you know, I bet he's just doing this because he has a crush on me, right?" I cringed. No man, scratch that, no one who is emotionally developed would ever show their love for a person by hurting them. That's hardly accepted in grade school.

"Sakura?"

"yeah?" She wiped her tears with her sleeve.

"you need to talk to Ino."

"I know." She surprised me. I really wasn't expecting that answer. "You've been a really good friend to me through all of this. And I cherish this experience, because even though we grew up together, I feel like I didn't really know you all that well until recently. And you're really smart, that's why you're Tsunade's second favorite." I smirked at her compliment to herself, she knew she was the favorite. "But you are really bad at consoling people. It's not your fault, I guess I just need my best friend back. You know?" She was acting like she came to this realization on her own, even though I asked her about ten times every time I saw her to go talk to Ino. Troublesome. But not troublesome enough to refute.

"I'll walk you to her shop."

She was nervous, I could tell, and I almost wanted to hold her hand, but I didn't want her to start thinking about me romantically, so I just would give her an assuring smile when she looked at me, and answered all her dumb questions, like "do you think she'll hate me?" "Will she accept me again?" "does she hate me? Be honest!" I pretended like I didn't think they were dumb questions, too.

Yeah, so that happened. She even apologized to Temari for acting so cold. It was troublesome, but it's worth it because now Ino has her best friend back. But my reasons aren't really that charitable, it means she'll stop nagging me. Of course, that was the plan from the start. I wasn't about to go out of my way for someone else, least of all a troublesome girl. I just needed Ino to get off my case.

I don't know why, but even after all that shit went down, I still felt guilty. I guess I did the right thing with Sakura and Ino, but it still felt like I was betraying Temari. I asked Asuma why I felt that way, he laughed at me, which is troublesome. But he did give me some good advice. He told me to make it up to her. It had just rained, so the sky was beautifully clear. The morning's dew kept all the plants wet, with droplets falling from their leaves, picturesquely. You couldn't feel your feet if you were in sandals, it was so cold, but the sun was present in the sky. It was the perfect time to watch clouds if you had a blanket to protect you from the wet grass. I felt like just being back here would help me forget everything that was dragging me down in life. One of the drags walked silently behind me. I opened up the iron gate leading to the compound and she hesitated. I don't know why, she's been here before. Hell, she even sleeps over a few times a week. I guess this gesture seemed so much more intimate than anything else we've ever done, because I was starting to get nervous. We didn't go to the mansion like we always have when we go to the compound. Instead, we slowly made it to the forrest.

"Did your mom force you to take me here?" I was embarrassed of the answer.

"No." She didn't respond. I didn't expect her to.

We walked for almost an hour before we reached the destination: a small river that I frequently visited to think. As I looked on, I saw the reason that we travelled so long. She was shocked, I could tell by the hitch in her breath. There wasn't anything like this in Suna. The river, for one, because Suna is a desert. But more importantly, next to it, the deer. I wasn't looking at them, though. I was focused only on her, nervously waiting for her reaction. If you didn't know her, you might not have seen it. But I did know her, and I did get to experience it, and it made my heart jump. There was a slight glimmer in her eye, and she looked like she was suppressing a smile. I guess she hadn't seen deer before, but I asked anyways.

"Shhh you'll scare them away." She whispered.

I laughed at her because she didn't know that the deer were not going to run away from me no matter what. It wasn't really fair of me to laugh, she couldn't have known (I mean, she could have guessed from my name and surname), but we never specifically told her that our clan raised and cared for the deer. I was the one who fed them and kept them, as the heir. She wasn't happy that I was laughing at her, she scowled at me, but it made me laugh harder.

"What are you laughing at?" She was exasperated, so I explained.

"watch." I whistled softly, not like how Kiba calls for Akamaru so sharp and loud, but more like I was imitating a single note a bird might make in the morning. A mother walked over with a baby doe trailing behind her. Temari gasped, making my attention focus back on her. Her smile was back. So was mine. As the deer approached, Temari took a step back suddenly, as if she was shy. I pet the mother gently on the head. Temari surprised me by still acting so conservative. She still looked nervous, but excited now, too. "Would you like to pet her?"

Temari nodded and took a step forward. She put on hand out, waiting for the mother to react. Temari looked at me, I gave her an assured nod, then I gave the deer one, too. It was as if both the females were looking for my approval to the new comer's trust. The deer trusted me, and took a step forward, lowering her head and pressing it into Temari's outstretched hand. Temari's breath hitched and she smiled.

"She likes you. Sometimes they get nervous if their kids are around. They don't like newcomers to begin with." I knelt to play with the little doe. "Ino isn't allowed in the forest anymore because the males don't like her." I started to laugh, remembering the fiasco that occurred when we were little, and accidentally went beyond the bounds of our play area.

"Do they have names?"

"Yup. Every single one of them."

"What's the mother's name?"

"Cho. Because of Chouji, and because sometimes, when she was a baby, she'd chase butterflies with me." She smiled at that.

"Do you name them?"

"I've named all the ones who are eight years old or younger."

"How old is the mother?"

"four."

"And the baby?"

"three weeks old."

"So what's this one's name?" She asked as she knelt down to pet the baby.

I flushed bright red, I knew it.

"you sure ask a lot of questions." I stood up, stuffed my hands in my pockets and tried to look away.

"Well I promise that that's the last one. Just tell me her name."

I was no good at lying, so I scratched the back of my head awkwardly and spat it out.

"It's Temari."

Both of our faces smiled shyly. I'd never have admitted how jittery I was. I liked Temari a lot.


	7. Chapter 7

**a/n: I posted the first part of this before, then I deleted it, and now it's back. So if you read chapter seven before, read it again because I changed a lot and added like a ton more. Give me a review to tell me how I'm doing, if you have time! Thank you all so much for the great reviews so far, I'm really enjoying writing this, but I have zero motivation to write it if I don't think people are reading it.**

What the fuck is this Nara kid playing at? Honestly. Like, one second, it looks like he really likes me and is trying to get closer to me, the next he's all over Sakura. Well, with her. Shikamaru isn't really one to be all over anything. Maybe Shogi. Maybe. It's all fucking infuriating and confusing. Like, that baby doe? I'll admit, at the time, I was so in the moment, I may have been really happy that the little bambi was named after me, but what the fuck? I thought he was with Sakura! Why is he so confusing? Men...I mean, one moment, I'm serving you and your pink girlfriend on your date, the next, your making me blush by doing stupid cute romantic things. Things I always pictured men doing to women in romance novels to get their attention. Sakura doesn't have a deer named after her. Does she? She better not.

And what the fuck was the thing the other day in the flower shop? I was minding my own business, making a bouquet in the back and I might have been eavesdropping a bit. But it was only because Sakura and Shikamaru showed up, out of the blue. They talked to Ino and there was a lot of crying and hugging. I had left an orchid in the room where the three were, and I sort of needed it, so I tried sneaking in, knowing that my company would just make things awkward. But they noticed when I walked in, and Sakura pelted herself at my feet and cried, begging for forgiveness. I have no idea why this chick was at my feet, but I promptly forgave her. I still haven't the slightest idea of what she was apologizing for. But I'm not good with dealing with crying teenaged girls and no one is, really. Not even teenage girls, themselves. So I just forgave her because it was the strategy that I assumed would get me out of the room the fastest. I think Sakura said she was apologizing because she was being rude to me, maybe? It was an overreaction, if so. I don't care about people being rude, I'm really used to it. Maybe she was saying sorry for dating Shikamaru? I don't know. It's not like they need my permission, I'm not their keepers. I didn't care one bit. Not at all. Seriously!

All that's infuriating, but not nearly as infuriating as what happened exactly one week before Halloween. It was a Friday, and everyone on my floor in the dorm was out partying. I, on the other hand, was studying for a test on Monday. Unlike everyone else, I had a scholarship to maintain. At least, I thought that I was the only person still in the dorm floor. But no, I wasn't. Naruto, the idiot, wasn't invited to any parties, and, at some ungodly hour in the early morning (maybe three?), I was awoken by the sound of an alarm. Naruto fucking decided to try and make microwave ramen in a TIN FOIL BOWL. It went about as well as you'd expect. Remember how I just said that I was awoken to the sound of an alarm? Yeah, he fucking blew up the student lounge. Everyone had to evacuate.

The only thing more ungodly than the hour was the temperature outside. It was literally freezing, and I was stuck outside in a very light sweatshirt and some boyshorts. Someone might have found it attractive, but no one noticed, or at least, no one said anything, because I was giving Naruto the berating of a lifetime. He sheepishly offered me his night cap.

"Naruto! Our entire floor is going up in flames. It's possible that all my stuff is going to be gone. And you think that your gay-ass night cap is going to fix this?" I shouldn't have been homophobic. That, I regret. Everything else, I would do it again. I would scream it again ten times louder. I promptly yanked the night cap from his hands and threw it into the flames that had become of our home.

Lady Tsunade showed up a few minutes later in her pajama set. I was jealous because it looked cozy. She yelled at Naruto almost louder than I did.

"Shizune, go find our back up host families. We're going to need to find these kids some beds." Naruto was trying to tiptoe away while Tsunade was distracted, but he didn't make it past me. I thoroughly enjoyed watching him get yelled at, so I yanked him by the ear and plopped him back down in front of Tsunade. I couldn't really enjoy the tantrum, however, because I thought I was going to shiver into oblivion.

Shikamaru POV

Dad woke me up at four in the morning. I was sleeping peacefully, but the knock on my door, so distinctly my father's, woke me up. I didn't know what was going on, but just the fact that my father had awoken me at such an hour alerted me that something was wrong. And in retrospect, I was right, it just wasn't some big disaster like I thought it would be. My father just told me to grab my coat and some spare winter gear and follow him. I was anxious, and I played out hundreds of scenarios and strategies in my head.

On the way to the school, he told me that there was a fire. I instantly panicked, thinking about Temari and all my friends who live in the dorms. Dad assured me that no one was hurt, but he needed to work out some logistical issues with Tsunade. I was in charge of bringing Temari to our house. Troublesome.

When we got to the dormitories, the most interesting thing probably should have been the remains of it. Or maybe the water release shinobi who were putting out the last of the fires. But my mind was somewhere else. So were my eyes. Because, apparently, in someone's haste, they forgot to put on some clothing. Even more troublesome, the girl refused to take the blanket offered to her by Naruto.

"You're such a snob, just take the blanket." I told Temari.

"I don't want anything that even remotely reminds me of Naruto right now." I shrugged, understanding her point. I had figured out, in my head, that Naruto must have been the cause of this, just by the way that Tsunade and Temari were glaring at him.

"tch. Here." I put a forest green beanie with my clan's symbol on the front atop her spikey head, and handed her the matching hoodie. "Don't die of hypothermia."

"Is that actually a thing? I thought it was more of an urban legend."

"Yeah, sand princess. It's a thing." I looked around awkwardly, and upon seeing that there was literally no reason for me to be there at all, I suggested we go home. She looked relieved. "We'll get whatever remains of your stuff tomorrow." She nodded and we headed home.

"So, is Sakura going to be jealous that I'm living with you?"

"Tch, why would she be jealous? She has her own home."

"Idiot. I didn't mean because you practically live in a wooden palace. I mean, isn't she mad that another girl is living with her boyfriend?"

Quite frankly, that was the last thing I expected from her mouth. She had waited on us one night at dinner, which had been awkward enough, but I had assumed that Sakura's apology would have cleared things up. Temari was intelligent, she could understand the blabbering girl. But thinking about it again, I realized Sakura hadn't said what was going on between us. Not that it would have been difficult, since 'absolutely nothing' is the answer to that question.

"Tch, you're so troublesome." Her shoulders slumped slightly, they had previously been up near her ears in an attempt to keep her warm.

"Oh."

"we're not together." I elaborated.

"you broke up after a week?" She cocked an eyebrow and looked at me.

"No, trouble." I looked back at her pale face. "we were never together." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"who the fuck takes a girl to Chez Ichiraku for a platonic dinner?"

"she wanted to go." I shrugged.

"Isn't it pretty  _troublesome_  to do that?" Her pout was back.

"Yeah, but she was going through some things."

"What kind of things?"

"Things that don't concern you." The pout grew, but at some point, her face contorted into one of understanding. We walked in silence for the next three miles, minus some complaints from a freezing Temari. I don't know what she wanted me to do about it. I had given her my scarf, gloves, and down coat. It's not like I could control the weather. As we passed the gates and entered the compound, she spoke again.

"I wouldn't mind it, you know?"

"wouldn't mind what, trouble?"

"Mind if you were going out. I don't know why Ino and Sakura were mad when I suggested that you two were, you know, going out. But it's none of my business." I don't know why, but her statement stung a little.

"Well you know, you don't have to worry about me dating anyone from our school. I don't want to go out or marry any kunoichi, much less one as pretty as Sakura. I want some woman who's not too pretty and not too ugly. She'll be submissive and won't be trouble at all. We'll have two kids." I opened the front door for her, then continued. "One girl, then one boy. I'll have a not too troublesome job and once the girl is married and the boy is a full-fledged shinobi, I can retire. Then I'll die before my wife." I let the words sink in, not saying anything. She only responded once I dropped her off in her room.

"Wow, and who says that you're not driven?" She smirked and forcefully shut the door in my face.

"Troublesome."

Temari POV

Well, I don't know why, but it was a relief that he wasn't dating Sakura. It cleared up a lot of things. I'm still slightly curious as to why Shikamaru was going out of his way to help out Sakura, but it's none of my business. None, at all. I mean, if he wants to go out with other girls, that's fine with me. Completely. I'm not going to be jealous. I'm not jealous of Sakura. I shouldn't be jealous, because that would mean I want to be in her place. And being in her place would mean that I'd have to spend time with the cry baby, and I didn't want to do that. So I don't know why I keep thinking about it. Why I have to adamantly tell myself all this. I'm not exactly the most emotionally developed person, so this was all just, too confusing.

I'm not going to lie, despite the ungodly hour, I was now wide awake. I was thinking about sneaking into Shikamaru's room (I now can navigate there and back from my bedroom) and stealing his unused and, without a doubt, unopened, history textbook, but instead I decided to write to my brothers. I knew that Gaara would be the only one that would respond, so I addressed it to him.

Dear Gaara,

It's very cold here. I had no idea seasons were like this. The upside is that I get to plant a lot. The plants don't need so much attention here, because of the rain. I really love my job at the Yamanakas. The job at Ichiraku is troublesome because I'm really not cut out for customer service. It's not so bad, though. I've learned a lot.

I've actually made some friends here. My host family is quite agreeable. However, their son, my guide, is apathetic to everything and appears lethargic at all hours of the day, despite the superfluity of his time devoted to maintaining his napping schedule. I tell you all this because an action he took the other day is in complete contrast to his personality. I was hoping either you or Kankuro could help me out, and decipher the meaning behind it. His clan keeps deer, and a doe had a baby a few weeks ago and named it after me. Do you think I should be on my guard more? Do you think there's an ulterior motive? On second thought, don't ask Kankuro. He's going to say something vulgar in response. Speaking of Kankuro, tell him that he's gone international, he has a cult-following here because of his puppetry. You should visit at some point, people want to see his puppets and your ultimate defense. Also, I might be missing you idiots. I hope you're all working hard and advancing in your political sphere. You better be studying hard, I'm not here for fun, you know.

You sister,

Temari

P.S. Naruto, the village idiot, accidentally set my home on fire. Please send some extra fan maintenance gear, and maybe some winter gear, too. Like I said before, it's cold.

I decided to get a few hours rest. I'd drag Shikamaru to the post office to drop the dumb letter off tomorrow.

Shikamaru POV

She moaned as she took my entire cock in her mouth. It was possibly the most erotic thing I've ever heard. I don't know why I couldn't feel it. But I saw it, saw her blonde hair, the pony tails that I was holding on to, like handle bars. She kept going and going, bobbing her head up and down my shaft, licking every important part of me, playing with the balls. "mmmm Shikamaru, you're so big." She cooed. When she looked up, I can't say I didn't expect to see her face, in a way, I always knew it was her who would be there.

I only caught a glimpse of her face, though. I woke up right then, sweating like a madman and hard as a rock.

Groaning, I sat up in bed, too jittery to fall back asleep. I supposed I needed to take care of the hard on, so I went to the bathroom and took an ice cold shower. I was interrupted in the middle of it by the devil, herself. She banged on the door and yelled, "Shikamaru you're taking me to the post office once you finish." She didn't ask, she just demanded it. I don't know why, but I guess that turned me on, too. I would never have expected it, but my dick twitched at her voice, which was bad. This was incredibly troublesome.

Temari POV

When I woke up, it being a Saturday and all, I assumed that the idiot wouldn't be awake. It was seven thirty. No teenager who wasn't as disciplined as I would be awake. I walked downstairs and was greeted by Yoshino, who was making breakfast. It smelled delicious, and even though I had stayed over many nights before, I don't think I'll ever get used to a mother cooking me breakfast every morning. I was robbed of that, growing up, and it was the most surreal thing, having Yoshino around. We had a nice talk over breakfast. Over school, what transpired last night, friends, her son, etc. I told her of my letter to Gaara, and once I finished my breakfast, she insisted that I go wake Shikamaru up. He was in the shower so I told him he was taking me to the post office. When I told Yoshino that he was already up, she nearly dropped her plate in shock.

"He hasn't woken up before eight on a Saturday ever."

"Well I guess he's just really enthusiastic about spending the day with me." I said it completely sarcastically, but Yoshino nodded and agreed. "Oh, no, I'm kidding. He thinks I'm troublesome, he's only going to hang out with me today because he's forced to."

"You know Temari, he's also forced to do his homework and get the groceries and train with his father." I laughed, knowing that he does none of those things. "He doesn't, as you know. No one is forcing him to hang out with you, I think my son actually likes you. He even named a baby doe after you. But don't tell him that I told you that."

"It's okay, he took me to go see the doe, she's really cute." Yoshino stopped cooking and put the knife down to look at me.

"He hasn't taken anyone to see the deer, ever."

"I'm sure he just felt bad because I had to wait on him the other day." Yoshino bit her lip, and she looked like she wanted to respond, but she didn't. I was sort of glad, because I didn't really want to talk about her son and a possible crush, it was too awkward.

Shikamaru came down and we walked over to the post office. That day was uneventful, but Shikamaru wouldn't even look at me in the eye, which was weird. Usually whenever I wear something provocative, I do it because I know it'll get a rise out of him, and he'll blush all the time and it's very cute. But I was in HIS clothing. All my stuff was still being recovered, so I was head to toe Shikamaru's closet. Although, I looked better in it than he did. He even agreed with me. But he still wouldn't look at me, even though I was in sweatpants and a down jacket. I wasn't trying anything funny, and yet, he wouldn't be his usual complaining self.

Things were boring the next day, too. Except at lunch. I sat with him and his friends, and Ino kept on making fun of my jacket (Shikamaru's) saying how Shikamaru was 'marking his territory' since it and every article of clothing, minus the uniform, that I wore displayed the Nara Clan symbol somewhere. I knocked him in the jaw when he didn't respond. I'm not anyone's territory, least of all Shikamaru's.

The day after that, I went to Tsunade's office, and she handed me my fan, some of my clothing, a spare uniform, and some school work. That was the only thing that the shinobis could salvage. I acted pissed, but I didn't really need a lot of material things to be happy. I just needed my fan, so really, it wasn't all that bad.

On Thursday, I was walking over to where Shikamaru was sitting at lunch, but Ino pulled me by my shirt and made me sit with her and the girls. I didn't know why they were separate from the boys, at first, but they explained that they were going over plans for Halloween, which was the next day, and they didn't want to deal with the boys. Plus, they figured the boys would make fun of them if they knew their Halloween costumes, so I was sworn to secrecy. Like being Harley Quinn was that creative. Of all the things, my Halloween costume was one of the things that was spared from the fire, since it was staying at Ino's. I was pretty pissed about that, since I would have preferred some of my class work, or clothing, to be spared from the fire, not some costume that I would wear a grand total of one time.

As they went over the plan, I was shocked that they included me into their Halloween plans without hesitation. I was still getting used to the idea of having friends. But even Tenten and Sakura were begging for me to come. I guess it was just because I was foreign, so my popularity was inevitable. People just wanted to know things like if Sunans could really drink tequila like water (the answer is yes, I am an expert at holding tequila).

The plan was just to make an appearance at the party that the school hosts. We'd show up late, of course, spike the punch, leave like twenty minutes later, then go party hopping around the clan homes, since that's where all the good parties would be. Plus, the police never shut down those parties, the families have too much influence over them.

I stayed at Ino's house on Thursday, so that we could get ready in the morning together. We were allowed to wear costumes to school, which was fun. In Suna, we weren't allowed to do that. In fact, I hadn't been out of the house in a costume in like, five years. I had forgotten how god-awful they are. The material was mostly fake leather. Some tiny red and black vest that exposed too much cleavage and too much tummy, with a faux corset thing in the front. Ino let me borrow some slutty boots. She did my make up and her own. I couldn't believe she was actually going out in her costume. She was wearing glorified lingerie and some bunny ears. Her father was furious, but she changed and he let her go. Of course by "changed" I mean she wore my Nara clan sweater, then ripped it of once she left her clan's compound.

I thought all of us looked good, but apparently, some of us looked  _too_  good. A lot of the teachers complained. They said our outfits were too revealing. I think it's bullshit. Not like any of the guys were complained about. I mean, Kiba was in a sheet, saying he was wearing a toga. No one said anything to him. Fucking sexist.

On my way to homeroom, I ran into the worst possible thing I could have in the entire world. Shikamaru was walking towards the door, no big deal, right? He was opening the door for me, as he always does (he does that for every single person in the female population, don't get too excited) and I catch a glance at his shirt.

Now, most boys don't dress up for Halloween. It's just the way the world works. Mot put some sort of effort into it, however. For example, the easiest way to find a tool at a Halloween party is to look for the guy who bought a shirt that says "this is my Halloween costume." And then there are some dudes who do dress up for Halloween, like how Kiba made a sheet toga, but it just makes everyone uncomfortable.

Shikamaru was under the tool influence, and was wearing a costume packed into a shirt, and it just had to be a joker shirt. The iconic grin was on a white background and 'why so serious' was printed at the bottom of it.

"God fucking damn it, Shikamaru!"

"Language, Temari." Mr. Yamato scolded me. "What's the problem."

"thousands of options, and you had to chose the joker. Seriously?"

"it was Ino's idea." I whipped around and saw Ino shift uncomfortably in her chair.

"What? It's cute. Naruto and Hinata are matching, too." It wasn't cute. Hinata looked cute in her pumpkin outfit, I looked cute in my Harley Quinn costume, but Naruto and Hinata both dressed up in pumpkins made me want to throw up, and Shikamaru and I dressed up as the Joker and Harley Quinn makes me want to publically commit suicide.

I groaned and took a seat next to Sakura, which just happened to be the furthest seat from Ino. I sent her many a death glare that day.

I was relentlessly made fun of that day by the group. Naruto, especially, had a lot to say about our costumes. He happily swung an arm around Hinata, animatedly conversing with other people, half dragging her around. But everyone knew she didn't mind it. She was too in love with him to not be ecstatic that they were finally acting like a couple. As for me and that stupid lazy ass, at a certain point, I stopped yelling at everyone and just took it. There was no point at yelling at absolutely everyone who said something about it, because I had no intention of yelling at literally everyone on campus. Even Kakashi and Guy commented on it. We were both red, Shikamaru was probably embarrassed, and I was just mad. The worst part was near the end of lunch, when Ino required Hinata, Naruto, Shikamaru and me to take a photo because we were the only 'couples'.

"Ino, for the love of god, don't make us do this."

"Zip it, Temari. Now, Shikamaru, wrap an arm around her." He did and I almost flinched, but he smelled too nice to actually back away. Hinata and Naruto were having a just dandy time, but I wasn't going to let this go that easily. I grabbed Shikamaru by the front of the shirt and hissed in his ear,

"We're going to pose for one picture, exactly, so that this harpy stops yelling at us, and then we will part ways and never speak of this again, got it?"

"tch. Got it."

"Okay, Ino. Take the stupid fucking picture." She was giggling like a mad woman.

"I already did."

"What?! Let me see..." I yanked the polaroid out of her hands, shook it, and was furious to see that Hinata and Naruto looked beautiful, staring into each other's eyes like they were the only ones in the world, but Shikamaru and I ruined the picture. Ino took it mid scold, so I had him by his shirt, and I was yelling at him, while he just looked slightly shocked at our close proximity. "I hate it. Burn it. Actually, cut it in the middle and then burn the half with us in it."

"Oh, Temari don't be mean!" Ino said.

"Yeah, I think you guys look cute together." Sakura laughed.

"you're joking." I retorted.

"N-no. You almost a-act like an old co-couple." Hinata said timidly, to which Naruto kissed her on the cheek for.

"hmph." I crossed my arms. "we don't act like an old couple, tell them crybaby."

He rolled his eyes, but acquiesced.

"we don't look act like an old couple."

"Looks like you've got him whipped. Part two of the Nara curse, eh Shikamaru?" Chouji said, clapping Shikamaru on the back.

"tch. She's scarier than my mom."

"Yeah, plus Shikamaru is going to marry someone who's not too pretty and not too ugly." I added.

"And she's way too pretty for that." My heart stopped, and so did everyone else, for a split second. Right before they all started laughing their asses off at his stupid commentary. I slapped his head.

"idiot." I reprimanded, but by the furious blush that invaded his cheeks, I knew that  _he_  knew that he had said the wrong thing. We were saved by the school bell, however, and we walked side by side to advanced math.

Shikamaru POV

"So you think I'm pretty?" she teased.

"If you'd shut your mouth more often, yeah." I responded. 'I don't have sex dreams of just anybody' I added, mentally.

"Well, I'm still mad at you for making people think that we're a couple."

"Be mad at Ino, it wasn't my idea."

"I should have known you'd wear that shirt. It's the only clean one in your closet right now."

"Why are you so well acquainted with my closet, again, woman?"

"Naruto's an idiot. That's why."

"That's the answer to most questions in this village, isn't it."

She laughed and it was the most fantastic thing in the world.

"Yeah. He and Hinata are cute. She deserves better, though."

"I agree, but Naruto is one of the best ninjas around. I'd be intimidated to fight him."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, he has never ending stamina and drive. Plus, he's probably the nicest guy I know, minus Chouji."

"That's true. You know Naruto was the first one who made an effort to be my friend here." "And what about me?"

"You were forced into it." I stayed silent, because she didn't need to know that I actually was really only required to take her to her classes and make sure she has at least one friend. Sharing a wardrobe and spending most of my time at her side was not part of the mission that Tsunade gave me.

Temari POV

The school day went by pretty slowly. I guess it's just because some part of me really wanted it to just be night time, already. I was actually excited to be going out with friends that I liked. After school, the girls headed over to Ino's house, where she made us all look even sluttier than we did for school. She retouched my makeup and made my ponytails even higher. She forced Hinata to let her long, beautiful, hair down. Poor Hinata, she just needed confidence, but she was a total dime. I mean, her boobs were like twice the size of mine.

When we finally got to the school's party, it was obvious that the boys had already been there. It was practically trashed, and everyone there was that, too. Trashed, that is. Kiba had probably already gotten to the punch. Not two minutes into the party, I asked Ino if we could just forget about it. I knew that Hinata would probably join me if I just decided to up and leave. But on the way out, we ran into the boys, minus one. They invited us to Kibas, and we happily obliged, knowing that his mother was out of town on a mission, and Hana would buy us alcohol. Sakura, however, warned me that Lee wasn't allowed anywhere near alcohol. Last time that happened, he almost killed a student from the sound with his bare hands, and it was a total accident.

There was already tons of people at Kiba's house. Crappy Halloween decorations were all over the place, some people were playing ping pong, some people were dancing, some were just talking on some couches, and some (well, just Chouji) were raiding the snack table.

I found the guy that had been missing at the school party. It was none other than Shikamaru. He was lying down in Kiba's room. Apparently, he had pre-gamed pretty hard. He already drank the better part of a vodka bottle. Kiba was like a proud mother, amazed that Shikamaru hadn't passed out yet, since the vodka bottle was half the size of him. In a way, I guess I was kind of like a mother, too. But, more like a Yoshino kind of mother. Actually, I was just pissed at him.

"You stupid kid."

"Oh hey my trusted assistant."

"I'm not actually Harley Quinn, and you're not actually the Joker, you stupid crybaby."

"I wish we were."

"And why is that?" I walked to the bathroom that was connected to the room to get the stupid Nara kid some water. I left the door open so I could here his explanation.

"Because Harley Quinn's in love with the joker." I looked up from the sink and into the mirror, where I saw the reflection of Shikamaru. He was lying down on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. He probably wouldn't remember any of this tomorrow.

"You want me to be in love with you." I said, offering the glass of water to him.

"of course. You're the hottest girl in the school, Temari." I sat next to him on the bed. He leaned in towards me, and for a split second, I thought he was going to try to kiss me, but instead he leaned into my breasts, so that his face was right in between them. I guess I could just blame it on his lack of balance. He was really, really, really, drunk.

"stop it, cry baby." But I didn't push him away. He groaned loudly, like a toddler.

"But Temariiiii." I flicked his head, but he didn't respond. I just rolled my eyes at how childish he was when he was drunk. "you know, you have the best tits in the school, too."

"that's not true, Hinata does." He looked up, removing his head from my chest finally.

"No, she has the biggest ones. But you." He poked my nose, "have the  _best_ ones in the school. I bet they'd fit right in my hand." He reached up, as if he was about to grope me, but he stopped.

"Ever the gentlemen." I said to no one in particular. He looked up as if asking for permission. "you're not going to remember this in the morning." He just gave a drunk laugh at me.

"doesn't mean I don't want to, though."

"then do it." I shocked myself with that response. I didn't shock him, however. He went right to it, groping them softly, as if he was acting sober. I shivered under his touch. "you're a real softie, you know that?" He looked up from below me, maintaining eye contact as he grabbed my breasts, liberating them from their tight confines of my costume and took one in his mouth. I gasped, but pushed my chest closer to his face, giving him easier access. It felt too good. And just as I thought that, I was ripped from the moment.

He ran from the bed and into the bathroom to puke his guts out. I stayed on the bed, catching my breath and adjusting my costume. I really shouldn't have let him done that. I don't know what came over me.

After a few minutes, he didn't come back out of the bathroom, so I went to go check on him. He, indeed, had puked a ton. Thankfully, he made it to the bathroom in time. He was just passed out on the floor. I figured that he's always been a good host to me, even if he was completely infuriating, so I helped him out. I cleaned up the bathroom first, then I cleaned his face. "Shikamaru." I poked his face. He only stirred slightly. I took a cup of cold water and sprayed it on his face, which rendered him conscious. "how you feeling, crybaby." I offered him another cup of water, this time, to drink.

"like shit." He groaned and started crawling out of the bathroom.

"where the hell do you think you're going."

"home."

"yeah, right. You're not going home. I'd have to carry you there, I can only make it to the bed." I picked him up, much to his chagrin, and plopped him on the bed.

"you know it's usually the other way around."

"Yeah, but you're the idiot who decided to drink his weight in vodka."

"you should join me."

"you're not nearly as charming as you think you're being, you know."

"but it worked."

"you're an idiot. I'm going downstairs for a bit, I'll be back up to check on you in a bit."

And that's about all I remember from that night, because not long after, I joined Shikamaru, in the depths of drunkenness, and the bed...

A/N Pt 2: Yeah... this chapter is the one in which it really fits into its M rating.

Thought #1: you think the clans have to order all their symbols off customink?

Thought #2: I feel like a mom, but I just have to say this. If you're going out with friends, do whatever the fuck you want, but stay safe, and STAY HYDRATED. OMG it's in your best interest because it prevents hangovers, I promise.

Thought #3: This took me fucking forever to write, and I kind of got too lazy to edit it, so PLEASE review!


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: As you might have noticed by now, my Brotp is ShikaIno. My otp is ShikaTema don't worry, but I love ShikaIno's friendship. But I feel like I've been abandoning Chouji in this fic, so I decided that I'm going to be adding some more of him in this next chapters. He doesn't really have to do with anything for this story's sake, but whatever. Also, this drinking scenario is not realistic at all, but I'm doing what I want, this is my story, after all.

PLEASE REVIEW, HOMIES! It makes it so much easier to write when you do that, for me. Honestly, just like a smiley face will make me happy, just so I know that people like it. But y'all have been so nice to me in the reviews, it brings so much joy to my frozen, cold heart. (lmao I'm really tired, idk why I said that)

Ino POV

Temari is one impressive Kunoichi. Usually, I'm the one who's wasted like, ten minutes into the party. But for the Halloween party, I ended up being the 'mother' of the friend group. Kiba's house was out of control, and if I didn't step up, no one would. Lord knows Kiba and Hana weren't going to control their guests.

But even through sobriety, the party was fun. People were having a really good time, and I'd stop them once they got too rowdy. I wasn't even close to the physically strongest person at the party, but I was probably the scariest. Well, I came in at a close second behind Temari, but she was no where to be found. She was probably with Shikamaru.

I'll admit, besides feeling responsible for my friend's house, I also didn't really have a reason to get drunk. Sure, it's fun to get drunk with friends and just relax, but I usually do that to get over my nerves when I'm in love with someone. That someone, for so many years was Sasuke. And after how he treated Sakura, I'm completely repulsed by him.

He stopped by at the party for a few minutes, I guess just to make Naruto happy. They had a short conversation, not that I was watching them or trying to hear what they were talking about (the party was too loud to eavesdrop). Shortly after, Sasuke left with Neji and Shino. They're all the quietest of the group, so I figured they'd go somewhere quieter.

The three of them kind of scare me when they're together. Their lack of emotion is unnerving. The rest of the group, for the most part, is pretty open with their emotions. Like, if Sakura is upset, everyone in the village knows. If Naruto likes something, everyone in Fire Country will hear about it. But those three kept things to themselves. And in some ways, I was not only scared of them, but scared for them. They're bad influences on each other and they end up doing hard core drugs together. Even though I'm mad at Sasuke in particular, they're part of the Konoha 12 and I love them. It's my duty as a Shinobi of the Leaf to protect them, so I always keep an eye on them.

Temari, on the other hand, is not animated like Naruto or Kiba, but she's still loud, unlike Neji or Shino. It's weird, because she's not like anyone we've ever met. She seems to prudent, but when she get fired up, she's like a sandstorm, consuming everything in her path. So far, I've figured out that she really only gets worked up about two things: people asking personal things and Shikamaru. The former isn't really about her, but about her past and her family. Kankuro, she doesn't mind talking about, because she just has to talk about his public persona. Gaara, she won't say a word about, other than that she's proud of him. I think she also might be a little scared of him, too. But so far, it's just a conjecture, I can't start spreading any rumors yet. The latter, her own lazy guide, remains a mystery as to why she gets worked up about him. I mean, it's probably because she has a crush on him, but the other girls, when they get a crush, will compliment the object of their affection, and do favors for them. Like how Tenten won't shut up about what a prodigy Neji is. Or how I used to give Sasuke flowers. Temari is a different story. I don't really ever hear her say anything remotely positive about Shikamaru. She smacks him on the head a lot, they argue most the time that they're together, and when they do go out together, well, actually they're almost attached at the hip, they go everywhere together, but still, when they go out, it seems a lot like someone is dragging the other out. Usually it's Temari dragging Shikamaru by the ear or the shirt to go into town. The only couple-y thing that those two do is wear each other's clothing. But, I guess that's enough. I guess I ship them pretty hard. Since I don't have anyone to impress, currently, I spend a lot of my time swooning over how cute they are together, even if they aren't technically together.

Well, I hoped that they were together, literally, because during the first part of the party, I had no idea where either of them were. I knew Shikamaru probably pre-gamed it. He usually does that, and I'm sure he used it as an excuse to not go to the school's party. Which, for the record, I'm still mad at him for not going to that. Poor Temari looked so sad looking around for him and not seeing any familiar faces. And when the boys did end up finding us there, her eyes just lit up with expectations, and then, that asshole, ruined it by not being there! God Shikmaru is such as idiot, for a genius.

Temari did show up downstairs, at some point. She looked so disheveled and her costume was kind of falling off of her. She walked up to me and before she even said anything, she grabbed the nearest bottle of liquor and drank around eight shots worth in one go.

"feel better?" I said, smirking.

"loads."

"where's Shikamaru? He was supposed to be here." I said angrily, even though he never really promised to be there. I guess I just needed an excuse to be mad at him.

"he's upstairs. He almost puked on me a minute ago." I smacked my head at my best friend's idiocy. He's supposed to seduce her, not throw up on her. I'm going to kick his ass later for that, later.

"I'm sorry, that idiot really can't hold his liquor." She drank some more, and was beginning to look flushed, herself. "But he usually can sober up quickly, just after a nap."

"He didn't seem like the kind of guy who can hold his liquor." I just shrugged in response. "but maybe Chouji can." Before I could stop her, she went and dueled Chouji in a drinking game. Ironically, Chouji is kind of a light weight, so he was taken out pretty quickly. I saw that Sakura went to go help him when he went to go throw up, so I stayed to watch who else would challenge the sand princess.

I'm glad I did. She was swinging a bottle of beer around, yelling at the crowd that had surrounded the game if anyone else was man enough to challenge her. It was kind of funny, but the guy who stepped up and took her up on her offer wasn't.

It was none other than Kazu, you know, the guy who Shikamaru punched because he tried to bully Temari her first day of school? And the guy who, according to Shikamaru, subsequently stalked her and tried to put her in a chokehold in an alley in the middle of the night and then Temari fucking pummeled him and he was hospitalized? Yeah, that guy. My eyes grew big, seeing him asking to battle her again.

"So I guess this will settle this once and for all, who's really the bigger man?" Kazu sneered at her. It really shouldn't have been a fair game, since Temari was already tipsy, but she seemed to be under control of herself enough, so I didn't interfere. She would have been pissed if I did, anyways.

"Well I already know my dick is bigger than yours." She refuted. Most the guys in the room were confused, asking each other if she was serious. Most the girls were on her side already, and laughing at Kazu. "But lets just drink this out like men." She poured herself and him a shot of whiskey and waited for him to take a seat. Once he did, they clinked glasses in a respectful toast, and downed their first shot.

"yes, let's do just that, Temari no Sabaku." He leaned in close to tell her something. No one except her could hear it, but she laughed and pointed at him afterward.

"you need to cheat to beat me?" She looked at the crowd, holding her stomach. "This idiot just ate a loaf of bread. Well guess what buddy?" She poured another shot for them. "I'm still going to win."

Now, in fairness to Kazu, he put up a good fight. They probably went twenty rounds before Kazu was done for. He was losing consciousness, and in good taste, his friends made him stop drinking anymore, just for his health.

At the end of it all, Temari wasn't in good shape, either. I fought against the impressive crowd that she had drawn, to get to her side. Everyone was cheering for her, giving her high fives. Kazu wasn't a really well liked person, so people were happy to see him be defeated, so to speak. She was basking in her victory, but I had to cut it short, since I was on mom-duty.

"How you feeling, Temari?" She sighed heavily, a sleepy smile adorning her face.

"Where's Shikamaru?"

"You said he's upstairs."

"Hmmm that lazy ass probably hasn't moved since then."

"Do you want me to take you to him?"

"No, I don't want to look too desperate."

"what?" Was she going to tell me everything, because of her inebriated state?! I'm really not above taking advantage of drunk people for gossip.

"I said, I don't want to look desperate. God, Ino. Do you need hearing aids?" She tried to poke my ears, but missed, horribly.

"Yeah, well. I think I should take you upstairs, anyways."

"No!" She stopped in her tracks. "I'm Temari no FUCKING Sabaku." Everyone at the party had heard that and cheered to it. "And I do what I want and no idiot shadow user is going to make me into some stupid school girl."

"Temari... are you saying that Shikamaru...makes you feel like a school girl?"

"INO! I just said that he didn't. God, keep track of your wo-wo-words. Hmm." She was being rude, sure, but her tone was too funny and drunk to take seriously. She was just being a cute drunk. "I can totally fix this. I mean, I'm a strong independent woman."

"Sure you are."

"I fucking BEAT KAZU!" Another round of cheers.

"Right, so what does that have to do with Shikamaru?"

"oh, Shikamaru? Why? Did he say something about me? Does that idiot talk about me a lot? Please say he does. I'd like that. I mean, I wouldn't. I mean, yes. I want to suck his dick."

"Okay, Temari!" I had to stop her there. I was the queen of gossip, sure. But Shikamaru was like a brother to me. No one wants to hear about their siblings' sex lives. "He's upstairs, probably napping, sleeping through his hangover, but he can take care of you now." Shikamaru was like that, he gets drunk real quick, and recovers even faster. Kind of like Naruto, except Naruto has way more stamina, Shikamaru falls asleep. So, I sent her upstairs with a bottle of asprin to give to her lazy ass boyfriend. It was already getting late, almost two in the morning, so I figured I'd go find them later.

Shikamaru POV

I woke up in a bed that couldn't possibly be my own and a splitting headache. At first, I tried to just go back to sleep. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I thought that my training as a ninja probably should have kicked in and I should wake up and survey my surroundings, but I was too tired and felt too disgusting for it. I heard the beat of a stereo playing distantly, so I figured I was probably at a party, and if that was the case, Ino would look after me.

I bolted up in bed when I thought of something, or really, someone. Temari. Where was she? Where was I? Why does my head feel like it's going to be split in two? I slumped slightly, trying to compose myself. Okay, I'm in Kiba's room, it's November 1st since it's so late already. The party going downstairs is for Halloween, and Temari, to my knowledge, should still be here.

I laid back down on the bed, going through the events of that night. I wasn't a black out drunk, but the memories were a bit hazy. I could put them all together, but it took longer than sober memories to piece together. Okay, I stayed behind at Kiba's while they all went to the school party with the intention of spiking the punch. But they left the majority of the supply at Kiba's house. I remember drinking, and drinking a lot. And then retreating to Kiba's room. Hanging out with a bunch of teenagers was too troublesome. And then I remember her. Temari, walking in, looking all beautiful, wearing not enough clothing. Temari, kind of pissed at me for drinking, pissed at me for not going to the school, but her expression betrayed her, because I could have sworn she looked endeared by my drunkenness. And then, after that, just boobs. That's all I remember.

I groaned when I finally remembered why. I could mask it and say I was mad at myself for doing anything with her while I was drunk, but there was a touch of arousal in it, remembering taking her amazing breasts into my hands, and then into my god damn mouth. And I still haven't kissed her...

My thoughts were interrupted by her. She slammed the door open, pausing for a moment to survey the room. She visibly changed once she saw me. Her face contorting into a sultry expression, posing slightly at the door.

"Why hello, Shikamaru." I almost laughed, this couldn't be happening. Temari was drunk off her mind. She'd never do something as campy as that while sober, ever. I knew that she'd be embarrassed and mad if I didn't stop her, so I tried to do just that.

"Hi, look, Temari." She slammed the door shut and in a ridiculously short amount of time, got to me and sat right on my lap. "um temari..."

"Shhhh..." She put a finger to my mouth. This whole seduction scene, no matter how ridiculous, was working on me, and that was a very serious problem. "I'm gonna make you feel real good." I almost jumped off the bed in shock.

But thankfully, she pulled out a bottle of asprin.

"So...you were talking about...that. right?" She gave me a toothy and innocent grin, too innocent for someone sitting on a man's lap like she was.

"that's right, now open up." She stuck two pills into my mouth. She hadn't brought me any water, to my disappointment. "now swallow." She commanded, and I obeyed.

"do you feel better?"

"Temari, it takes ti-"

"then lie down." I looked down at our current position. She got my hint, and climbed off me. "do it, crybaby."

"I'm on it, I'm on it." I laid down on my side, so I could still see what this drunken Temari was going to do, but my throbbing head could take a break.

She did something really, really bad right after that. She started stripping. Not like a showy sort of thing, but she just sort of was looking uncomfortable in her tight costume, which was understandable. But why she felt comfortable enough to strip right then and there was a mystery to me.

"Damn, trouble."

"I know, I'm pretty hot."

"No, I mean, can't you get out of here to do that." That's not what I meant at all.

She huffed and responded, "enjoy it while you can, crybaby. Why, would you prefer it if I go to the next room over where Kiba is?"

I sat up in bed, "you wouldn't."

"you're right, I wouldn't." She was just in her underwear right then, and honestly, if she hadn't been so drunk, I don't know what would have happened. She tried to climb onto the bed with me.

"what the hell, Temari?"

"well, where else am I supposed to go? You don't approve of me going next door, and the floor is cold. So you go somewhere else if you're uncomfortable with me." I groaned. Damn, she was good. She knew I was too lazy to move, and she was too stubborn to move, so we were both just going to have to deal with each other.

"you're feet are cold, stop that." She had, sort of mindlessly, been rubbing her feet against my calves. And I wasn't just teasing her, they really were cold. They were such a contrast to her warm thighs. I just wanted to be between those...wait. what?

"I'm cold."

"go get another blanket."

"I don't know where they are."

"down the hall, there's a linen closet with comforters, too."

"Shikamaru, I have no clothing on. You go do it."

"you're so troublesome, I'm not the one who's cold."

"fine then, I'll go outside, just like this, and go get a blanket." She started to get up.

"no!" I pinned her to the bed. "No, trouble. I'll go do it, you stay here." She giggled contently. She was pure evil. I was fucking whipped and she wasn't even my girlfriend. When I got back, she was asleep. She had hogged all the blankets, so I used the one I just got for myself.

I don't know why she bothered asking me for a blanket. She just ended spooning me later for warmth, anyways.

A/N pt 2:

Reminder to review. Like legit, I wanna know if people like it, or even, if you hate it. That's cool too. How about this: send me one of these if you liked it (ง'̀-'́)ง


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm the laziest asshat in the world and It's too troublesome to delete and remake so just ignore the author notes I put on these, i just copy paste everything from my fanfiction.net account lmao

**A/N: It's been brought to my attention (since I forgot) that people can't copy paste stories on fanfiction, so when I asked for people to send this (** **ง** **'** **̀-'́)** **ง** **that actually turned out to be like, the most difficult thing I could have asked for, lmao. It's on my profile, by the way, if you want it for future reference. It's a great way to ask people to fight you through text (which isn't recommended). I realized that I didn't even end up putting the scene in with Chouji in the last chapter. He made an appearance, but I have a scene planned out, so I put it in this chapter instead. I was going to make it longer, but I got tired and fell asleep. The previous sentence, funny enough, is the name of my sex tape! Okay...on with the story now...pretend like I didn't say that...**

* * *

Temari POV

A few weeks after Halloween, Mr. Yamato finished the repairs on the dormitories. He's a wood release, remember, so it didn't take him all that long to do it. Tsunade had to arrange to get everything refurnished, however, and that took a bit longer.

I moved in not long after that. The Naras weren't particularly happy that I did it, but they'll live. Yoshino made me promise I'd come visit at least once a week.

One Tuesday after school, I had a day off of work so I went to the dorms to go study. As I was walking up the stairs, I heard some yelling from below. I followed the sound to where the ice and the vending machines are located. On the floor was a very stuck Chouji.

"Um..Chouji?"

"Temari! Thank god you're here."

"Is your arm stuck up that vending machine?" I blinked a few times, not believing this.

"Maybe."

"Well why the fuck would you put your arm up there?!"

"I didn't have any more money to give the damn thing after it ate my dollar!"

"I feel like there's a more efficient way to do this..." He looked pretty pathetic, so I decided to help him. "But I'll go call someone to get you out."

I walked to Tsunade's office and told Shizune, who laughed when I told her.

"You can tell him that someone should be over to help him in a few minutes." I sighed, not wanting to play messenger. But it wasn't really out of the way, so I went to go tell him.

"how long do you mean, a few minutes? Like my mother's 'I'll be in the supermarket for a few minutes' and then she takes like two hours, or actually like 300 seconds"

"how am I supposed to know, Chouji? I know this may come as a shock to you, but I've never been in this situation before."

"Since this is coming from Tsunade's office, I'll bet it's like my mom's. Ugh I'm bored already." I crossed my arms. "and hungry!"

"Well..." I hesitated. "I could bring my study guide and flash cards down if you want to study with me. I know, I'm not the most entertaining person, but it's something."

"Really?" He smiled widely. "You'd do that?!"

"Sure, I'll be right down."

Chouji was right. It was a "mom" few minutes. Not that I would know, my mom was dead. But it did end up taking an hour and a half for someone to come and yank him out of the machine.

We had a nice little study date, however. He wasn't really that dumb, and he's really, really nice. I like Chouji.

"Hey, Temari!" I had begun to walk up the stairs to my room, but he stopped me.

"Would you want to go out to dinner, you know, as a way to pay you back for keeping me company?" I probably looked a little shocked, because he added, "not as a date, Shikamaru would kill me. I just mean like a platonic dinner, maybe study thing?" I laughed in relief.

"I'd love to. Let me go get a new batch of study guides."

We ended up going to a barbeque restaurant. I mostly tested him, since his hands were too busy cooking the meat to study.

"And what was the most important economic effect of the first shinobi war?"

He ignored my question entirely, probably signifying that he didn't know the answer. Chouji was a hard worker, so he had pretty good grades, but logic and knowledge didn't come easy to him.

"Hey, what are you doing for the harvest holiday?"

"what?"

"Oh right, I don't think they have it in Suna."

"What, the harvest holiday? No. but I've heard of it, I mean, it sounds familiar."

"Well, in the fall, during the last days of November, most families have a feast to celebrate the harvest. It's my favorite holiday. Barbeque, Pies, Dango, Scewers, Ice cream... everything I love. But it's mostly a family tradition, and since you don't have any here, what are your plans?"

"I don't have any. I'll probably just get take out. I can't make myself any food, they decided not to rebuild the kitchen, since Naruto still lives in the dorms."

"that's not right. Hey wait, aren't you invited to the Nara's?"

"They might invite me, I don't know. It's not like I'm gonna ask, they've been really nice to me, so I'm not going to be rude."

"Well, if they don't invite you, you're always welcome to the Akimichi home. The Naras are strange because they don't usually invite people over for their holidays and clan events unless you are blood related or betrothed, so don't feel too bad if they don't invite you." He smiled, eating the last piece of meat. "well, I'm gonna get going, my mom's going to be mad if I don't get home soon. Thanks for the company!"

"Thanks for the meal."

"see you in school."

"yeah."

I didn't really know what to make of our conversation. I don't really care about holidays in general, I really enjoy festivals and celebrations, but it's not like I'm going to be heartbroken if I can't make it to one.

But now, I was a little bit worried about what my plans for the harvest holiday were going to be. I thought it would be a little sad if I was going to spend it alone. But I was shocked that I cared, considering I had just heard about the damn holiday.

* * *

The next day at work, Ino invited me to the Yamanaka holiday harvest. I told her that I was already invited to the Akimichi, and she scowled.

"damn Chouji beat me to it."

"Eh, don't worry. I'll come over after and we can spend time together, maybe."

"Oh, you won't have time for me after an Akimichi feast. You'll probably be in a food coma." I laughed sincerely. "I swear, I had a food baby after the last feast I attended."

"does InoShikaChou have a lot of feasts together?"

"eh, not really 'feasts'. We do spend a lot of holidays and celebrations together, but not for some things. Some stuff is in-clan only. For the Naras, I haven't even been to one of their harvest feasts."

"Is it because the deer don't like you?" She reddened.

"No! Honestly, not even Chouji's been, and the deer like him plenty. Damn capricious little things."

"Ha. Shikamaru named one after me." She stopped doing her arrangement immediately.

"What was that?"

"He named a little baby doe Temari. I know, pretty gross, right?"

"yeah..."

"Well, just wait until you two are engaged, they'll invite you over for the harvest, then. It's a Clan-member only thing, but if you're betrothed to one of them, you're allowed in."

"Excuse me? What exactly are you implying, Ino?"

"Oh, I'm not implying anything."

"What?"

"I'm not, and you know it. No one spoons their platonic friend to sleep in their underwear like you did on Halloween." I went red with embarrassment.

"We were drunk..."

"Yeah, and you, missy, are a very honest person when you're drunk. I think you were just getting out your true emoitions."

"that's not true, I"

"admit it. You have the hots for Shikamaru. You would not stop asking for him on Halloween, it was all 'oooh Shikamaru, where is he? I wanna suck his dick!'"

"I did not say that!"

"Oh, yes you did." Oh fuck, I really did.

"whatever." I continued working on an arrangement so she wouldn't see my red face.

"it's okay, I mean, it's not like he doesn't like you. He won't just name deer after anyone, you know." I scoffed, most kids named their animals stupid things, it wasn't a big deal.

"It's really doesn't mean anything. Once, Kankuro adopted a pet rat and named it Snaggleworth. It really doesn't mean anything."

"I guess you don't know how important the deer are to the Naras then." I paused, knowing exactly how important the deer are to the Naras. I don't think I could find one named snuggles, anywhere.

"Still."

"sure, Temari. Will you go run this to Madam Shijimi, for me?"

* * *

"well?" I asked Shiakmaru. "Out with it."

He was walking me back to the dorms at night, right after one of the weekly dinners that Yoshino made me attend.

He rubbed his neck.

"We have most of next week off from school because of this thing called the Harvest holiday."

"I know, Chouji and Ino told me about it."

"Oh, well. If they haven't invited you-"

"they have."

"well, if you want to," he waited for me to fight him, but I didn't, "you're welcome to the my house for the feast." I paused from looking for my keys to my room.

"really?" I looked at him curiously.

"yeah. My mom's going to probably fight Mrs. Yamanaka and Akimichi."

"she doesn't have to." He looked at me shocked. "I'm going to your feast, of course. Crybaby." I shut the door on him so he couldn't see how my face lit up slightly, and I was for sure hiding a dorky grin.

* * *

The morning of the holiday, I went over to Ino's to borrow a dress. But it turned out to be a little party to get ready for the feast, since Sakura joined us.

"So, Nara found the balls to ask you out?"

"it's not 'asking me out', Ino, he's practically required to invite me over, Tsunade probably forced him."

"You don't really believe that, Temari, do you? Tsunade and I were talking the other day about how unnecessarily serious he takes his guide duty. She suggested that you go to our feast and he almost had a conniption." Sakura was so nonchalant about the whole matter, she just continued applying mascara.

"Ha! That's rich. He's too lazy to have a conniption."

"Sakura, leave Temari alone. If she wants to live in denial, it's okay. She'll figure out her feelings later. Let's just focus on finding dresses for tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes, but didn't correct her. I guess Nara was rubbing off on me, because I figured that it was too troublesome to keep on fighting with them over my non-existent relationship with Shikamaru.

"Ino, I'm brushing my hair now. I'll be back in like three hours."

She ended up straightening my hair, too. My hair was short, but it's incredibly thick, so it takes a long time to manage. That's why I put it up in weird ways most days.

Sakura tried to do my makeup, but she kept making me laugh, so she couldn't get the eyeliner right. At some point, one of them had to pin me down to stay still, while the other painted my face with god knows what.

It's odd, I went to her house with a specific dress in mind. I really thought I was going to walk in and out of there in a second, but I stayed for more than two, and didn't even end up wearing the dress. I wore a dark brown one. It was conservative enough to wear in front of a bunch of old people, but it was able to show off my curves nicely. I was surprised that Ino owned something like it, but she explained that her mom bought it for her.

"well, thanks for the makeover, I'll see you guys later. I'm headed over to the crybaby's house."

"wait, Temari!"

"yes?"

"why do you call him crybaby?"

"yeah, why?" Sakura added.

"well, the first day of school, I lightly, barely tapped him and he started tearing up."

They laughed, and I bid them farewell again, and headed over to the Nara compound.

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 **A/N Pt. 2: Don't expect updates to be this quick once spring break is over... review pls!** (ง'̀-'́)ง


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Like I said last author's note, don't expect updates so quickly starting next week. But I'm super bored so I suppose I should post this chapter... The harvest festival is modeled after Thanksgiving in America, I feel like most cultures have a holiday to celebrate the harvest so I didn't call it 'thanksgiving' explicitly, but it's the same idea. Anyways, please review, favorite, follow, whatever. I know, I'm an attention whore, but it gives me incentive to write, so... AND THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO'S ALREADY DONE THAT BECAUSE I GET SUCH CUTE REVIEWS AND IT MEANS EVERYTHING TO ME SO THANK YOU, HOMIES!**

Shikamaru POV

Our clan was especially happy because for the first time in a long time, every member was present, with the exception of a few who were gone on missions. Most of our clan lives on the compound, but I have plenty of extended family, cousins, uncles, aunts, whatevers, who live in other places in the village. Hell, even in other countries. Only the elders and the main branch are required to live on the compound. But everyone was here for this day, the harvest. It's the day that clans, historically, brought the fruits of its labor to the Hokage. For the Nara clan, that meant bringing deer antlers and medicines.

Clans still bring presents to the Hokage, but it's just a tradition. It's not required, like it was in the olden days. The elders, dad, and I brought some things to Lady Tsunade in the morning, and then we hurried out of there. It's always a busy day for everyone. Most people will bring her gifts, so she has a busy day, and after you bring your gift, decorations and lights are put around the village, everyone makes a surplus of food, which is used to feed the poor, and it's also a tradition to invite any homeless people, especially children, to eat with your family. So all around, everyone is happy on the Harvest.

When she finally showed up, everyone had already arrived. It was pretty comical, how all the men and then some of the women looked exactly alike, with the pony tail and bored expression. The women, usually, looked pretty different, but they all bore the Nara clan symbol on some part of their apparel. Some people wore the traditional attire, but usually just the old people. Mom wore some modern casual clothing, but only to cook, she'd change into traditional robes for the actual dinner. Dad was sort of required to wear robes, and he forced me into some, too. Being a clan heir is so damn troublesome.

Temari wore one of those dresses that if you saw on a mannequin or on a hanger, you would think it quite conservative, but on Temari, is was the most sultry dress ever, and it was going to be the end of me. When I greeted her, I pretended to not be shocked by how amazing she looked, it didn't work, though.

"Oh, hi Temari."

"Sorry I'm late, Ino wouldn't let me go."

"Tch. Ino. You look—eh..."

"yes?" she provoked.

"you look good."

Her cheeks lit up. "Thanks, cry baby. Your dress looks good, too." I went red.

"it's not a dress, it's—you know what, nevermind."

"hmm I win." She smiled. Indeed, she had won. When we had conversations, it was sort of like a game, trying to see who could make the other one more flustered without making a direct move on them. It was basically intense flirting, and it was driving me absolutely crazy.

I led her into the house, and took her to my dad to say hello.

"Oh, Hello Temari!" He was in the middle of speaking with an elder, but he paused his conversation to greet her. "You look stunning, as always. I'll be sure to get a photo of you and Shikamaru as soon as I'm done with this." I flushed red. My dad was so troublesome. "Shikamaru, go bring her to your mother, she's in the kitchen." It was a little bit odd, it kind of felt like Temari was a toy that I was showing off to people. On our way to go see mom, I heard an elder laugh and say to my dad,

"he's betrothed already? Don't you think he's a bit young, Shikaku?" I hoped to any god out there that Temari didn't hear it.

"Am I the only non-Nara here, Shikamaru?"

"maybe."

"Temari! Oh you look so precious! Shikamaru, go get the camera upstairs."

"Thank you, Yoshino. Your house looks amazing, and everything smells so good!" She referenced the food which, indeed, smelled good. I couldn't help myself, I started picking at one of the dishes that was cooling off.

"Shikamaru! Stop that right this instant, I told you to go get the camera! So unless you want to leave this Clan with no heir, I suggest you go do that." The women in the kitchen had a field day with that one. Almost every woman in the house had that same dry, scary sense of humor. And I knew my mother would 100% follow through with her word if I didn't do what she asked. I didn't even bother refuting, I just rolled my eyes and went to go get the camera.

I wasn't sure which one she wanted so I brought down her fancy camera and my polaroid one. The polaroid one reminded me of the picture of Temari and me on Halloween. She was so mad, grabbing my shirt and everything, I thought it was pretty funny so I kept it. It was actually on my bedside table, along with some pictures of my team, and pictures of me and the deer.

I really should not have brought down that damn camera, but in fairness to me, how was I supposed to know that the damn woman was going to be taking photos of us all night. Of course, my mom wasn't doing the actual photo taking, she was too busy hosting, but she assigned one of my most troublesome cousins to take photos of us.

It's too bad because I actually liked my cousin. He played for the 'other team' if you know what I mean, so he understood when I would talk about how troublesome women are. When he came out to me, he acted like it was a big deal. I don't see why, I mean, I think he's a genius for being able to avoid the Nara men curse. In the end, he didn't escape it, because his husband is very, very loud and demanding, just like my mom. And anyways, I thought he was all trouble that harvest, because he would not stop talking about how nice a couple me and Temari were.

Actually, my entire family was being troublesome. Even my trusty father, who usually would help me when my mother was being troublesome, left me for dead. Not only did he leave me, he joined  _their_  side. Temari took it surprisingly well. She thought the whole thing was funny, she'd just laugh it off and explain calmly that we weren't together. Of course, she snapped at me all night, as per usual, but she was really nice to my whole family. I was getting more and more flustered, the more my family kept pestering me about her. It was all 'ooh Shikamaru, when's the wedding date?' 'can I be your best man' 'use protection!' 'quite eye fucking her, it's very awkward for the rest of us'. What does that even fucking mean? 'eye fucking', tch, people are so troublesome.

The meal wasn't so bad, since everyone was stuffing their mouths with food, instead of talking to us. I sat next to Temari, of course, I was her guide, after all. But after a quick tease from one of my cousins, asking us not to play footsie with her sitting right next to her, people went about their usual banter, not just questioning us. After all, we weren't the only source of 'news' to be covered. One of my aunts just gave birth, so a lot of the women were cooing over those two twin baby demons. Two of my cousins got married (not to each other, we haven't allowed that inter clan marriage bullshit in like, a hundred years), so everyone was inspecting those two new women in our clan.

After dinner, everyone was beyond stuffed, and Nara men are already lazy, but since they were all in a food coma, practically, most people weren't even moving. They just assumed a place on the couch, or grabbed a chair, and fell asleep. Mom and some women were cleaning up, and she gave me and Temari the troublesome task of going to the food pantry (where they feed the homeless) and giving them some leftovers.

We spent most of the walk in a comfortable silence, since we were both too stuffed to talk. I eventually broke that beautiful silence, and I missed it sincerely.

"I'm sorry my family is so troublesome. They're so damn pushy." She smiled and put a piece of flattened hair behind her ear. I noticed that her hair seemed straight and flat. It wasn't bad, but I preferred how her hair was usually, better.

"It's okay, I think it's cute." My ears went red, I know, but I hid it by continuing walking, and slightly faster.

"did Ino straighten your hair?"

"yes. Do you like it?" Temari was acting kind of strange, almost like a normal girl. She was kind of shy and coy, and it was very, very strange. Also, troublesome.

"no." She pouted. Again, this was weird.

"I like how it usually is, better."

"you're lying. When I wear my hair naturally, it's like having four rats nests bunched up sporadically across my head."

"well, you asked, I'm just saying the truth." She crossed her arms and gave me an incredulous.

"Well, I think you're lying." We walked for another thirty seconds before she added, "but thank you. Most people aren't very nice about my hair."

"troublesome." I kicked a pebble out of the way, then shoved my hands into my pockets. "it's nice, it looks soft."

"well, it's not. It's kind of like straw."

"it doesn't look that way."

"but it is!"

"Temari?"

"what!"

"shut up, just accept the compliment."

And surprisingly, she actually did. She just didn't respond after that. I went into the pantry alone, she didn't want to go in, probably because the night was so nice.

Instead of walking back to the house, I walked her to her dorm. Everything went back to normal. The silences were comfortable, but it was usually filled with our banter. We took a short cut to the dorms through my clan's forest. But we heard a rustle in the bushes somewhere. And sure, I guess we both guessed that it could have been something harmless, like a bunny, but automatically we put our guard up. At the end of the day, we are ninjas.

The source of the rustling was an evil, evil demon that had no chance, even with an exorcism, so I was honestly planning on just throwing it back in the bush. Temari got it off my face, which it had scratched up pretty well. The demon was small, I saw, she carried it in her arms, and it immediately settled.

"aww good kitty, you're so precious." She cuddled it to her chest and kissed it on the head.

"Temari! Watch out it's going to kill you."

"Shikamaru, you cry baby, it's just a cat! Look how sweet he is." She started to kiss the orange thing some more.

"it's a demon."

"you're just mad because now you look like your dad." It was a low blow, but a funny one. I probably did look like my dad, with the cuts that damn cat gave me.

"Temari, put him down you can't keep him."

"Don't tell me what to do, Shikamaru. He's my cat now."

"Temari! You can't be serious..."

"I'm very serious. And you know what? I'm going to name him..."

"Oh, don't do it."

"Shikamaru!"

"Oh my god."

"cry baby."

"you don't even have a place to but the demon."

"Shikamaru, it's a cat. And yes, I do. He'll live with me, in the dorm rooms."

"don't they have a rule against that?"

"probably, but I can hide him. It's not like the RAs are responsible. I mean, I think I've seen Anko maybe once this entire year. Plus, Naruto burned the place down under her watch. She mostly sleeps and threatens people, then goes back to sleep."

"well what are you going to feed him? Won't it be obvious when there's a bag of cat food?"

"Shikamaru, have you ever been bad, like in your entire life?"

"sure."

"like when?"

"Well I fall asleep in like every class and then I end up ditching because I take a nap, often, as well."

"you truly live on the wild side. Say, do you think the Inuzukas are done with their harvest dinner?"

"Probably not, but I'll take you to them tomorrow."

"Thank you! You're the best." She kissed my cheek and walked into her dorm room, leaving me speechless, but that's nothing new.

**A/N Pt 2: I know, I put a meme in there, please don't kill me *hides in a trash can where I belong* FAVORITE, FOLLOW, REVIEW, WHATEVER, I LOVE YOU ALL**


	11. Chapter 11

**a/n: sorry it's short, I'm super freaking busy.**

Naruto POV

Three in the morning and I can't sleep. It was all too hot, the pajama set and matching hat was practically melting me. Uuughh. On top of everything, I was freaking hungry, my stomach kept rumbling. Ever since the little kerfuffle with the ramen, I had the kitchen privileges taken away from me. For life.

There was nothing to do but stare at the ceiling so I just did that, laying in bed, moaning in frustration. I counted the little blemishes on the ceiling, trying to tire myself out. If only I could just use a jutsu and sleep.

After awhile, I used my super duper ninja skill, and heard that my neighbor, too, was awake. I'm pretty sure it was temali, or whatever her name was, next door. I strained my hearing to hear what was going on, it seemed like she was talking to someone, but her voice sounded unusually high. I pressed my ear to the wall, to hear it.

"Aww Shikamaru you're so cute, baby you licked me!"

ABORT ABORT ABORT.

I had seen too much.


	12. Chapter 12

Temari POV

Once the holiday break for the harvest festival was over, school really started to bust our balls. Christmas break was three weeks away. Teachers must have all ban together to assign every last assessment, plus arrange mid terms for those three weeks away. Of course, I'd never tell anyone how stressed I was. On the outside, I remained a stoic, expressionless, and in control female.

"hey Temari, could you help me with this-"

"I'm fucking busy, so scram, kid!"

I'm practically a brick wall. Nothing gets to me.

In History of the Shinobi, not only did we need to know thousands of years of history and its consequence on the modern world, we also had a research project and an oral presentation to go with it. But no, that wasn't my main concern. The absolute worst part of this mess of a class, by far, was the fact that it was a partner research project.

Of-fucking-course, I was partnered with Shikamaru. Neither of us had a say in the matter, he was my partner in most classes, being my guide and everything. That damn lazy ass, he wasn't about to enthusiastically finish his work with a smile, that's for sure. No, that lazy ass would not do his work so easily. But hell would freeze over before I did that research project on my own. And there was a way to make it happen. It required a brilliant strategist and a cunning, decisive, but inconspicuous person to pull off. Not only that, but I couldn't do it alone. No, this wouldn't be a solo mission. I needed back up.

I knocked on the door of my associates home.

"Oh hi dear, please come in. The men aren't home, so it's just us girls for now. Can I get you some tea?"

"No thanks Yoshino, I was actually hoping to talk about your son…"


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE COMMENT OR BOOKMARK OR KUDOS ANYTHING SO I KNOW THAT PEOPLE ARE ACTUALLY READING IT AND THAT ALL THE VIEWS AREN'T JUST ME REFRESHING MY OWN DAMN STORY BY ACCIDENT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had two APs this week so forgive me for not updating...I have two more this week but I decided to write this instead of studying. I am such a piece of trash. Well, I don’t really think that anyone reads these, but if you do, just keep in mind that I made them the same age but three months apart instead. SHHHHH I know, it’s not physically possible for Karura to have done that, but let me have my fun. I also reference Chris D’elia in one of Shikamaru’s thoughts. I was watching his stand up on Netflix and thought….damn...that’s a really straight guy thing to think. And as I’ve said before, going into the mind of a teenage boy is pretty hard, so yeah, the end of the second paragraph is inspired by that bit. Also, in another Shikamaru POV when he talks about ‘gentlemanly’, yeah that’s inspired by Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones. There are no spoilers in the chapter for game of thrones, I promise.

Shikamaru POV

Man, I hate this time of year.  It’s such a drag.  It’s not like I’m going to be doing all this homework that the teachers are giving, but still, it’s troublesome just to listen to.  To make things worse, I’m partnered with Temari in every single class.  

In history, part of our final assessment is a partner project...and she’s gonna have my ass if I don’t work.  That beautiful idiot.  You see, she thinks she’s a master strategist, but I’m a more skilled one.  Not to brag, it’s just the truth.  I know that she talked to my mom to get me to work, I know she talked to the teacher begging her for a new partner.  She’s such a girl.  So worried about everything.  I don’t understand why every girl has to be stressed all the time.  Like almost everyday, Ino will come up to me, and complain that she’s been running around all day.  I know that she wasn’t running around all day in the literal or figurative sense.  Because, in the literal sense, if she was running around all day, that would be fun.  Running around all day would be something that a child would do.  I’d love that.  But she wasn’t even just traveling all day, she just did some stuff.  So it only makes sense that in school, girls go insane.  They all worry no matter what.  They are worried when they get bad grades, they are worried when they get good grades.  

Me, on the other hand...I’m fine just lying down.  Looking up at the sky, wishing I was a cloud.  I found myself daydreaming more and more.  I had more and more troublesome thoughts to attend to.  Fuck school.  I kept having those damn erotic dreams about that troublesome girl I was supposed to guide.  I mean, sometimes I can’t even look her in the eye.  I don’t trust myself because I know I’ll start thinking about how she gave me fake head that night.  The worst thing is that once, Ino tried talking to me about Temari.  She put a lot of eye wriggles and elbow nudges, trying to imply so much out of us sleeping in the same bed on Halloween.  It was honestly such a platonic night.  We really just slept all night.  We just didn’t have a lot of clothing on.  And I vaguely remember having some contact with her chest.  But like that was any of Ino’s business.  Women are so damn troublesome.  

A few days after we got our history project assigned, I got home and my mom was smiling.  I knew then that I was fucked.  She was smiling, happy as can be, with two filled backpacks by her feet.  

“Afternoon, mother.”  

“Good afternoon, dear son.”  The politeness in our greeting proved how tense the predicament was.  I tried to brush past her to get to the kitchen.

“Hold it there, dear.  Where are you going?”  

“to the kitchen?”

“don’t worry about it.  I’ll prepare something for you …”  She mumbled something else after that, but I didn’t quite catch it.  

“Mom, you hate it when I mumble.  Don’t be a hypocrite.  just out with it.”  She huffed.  

“I’ll prepare you a snack, and I’ll even pack Temari one.”  

“Come again?”

“You heard me perfectly well, Shikamaru.”  I groaned.  This, for sure, was Temari’s plan.  “Go meet her in the library, I already packed your stuff.”  I picked up the backpacks she had at her feet.  It must have been fucking fifty pounds because I immediately dropped it in shock.  

“Jesus, am I moving to the library?”

“Well I didn’t know what you would need for the project, so I just packed everything.”  

“good god.  Okay, you know what? bye mom.”  I tried to close the door on her, but she caught it.  

“I’ll know if you don’t show up, so be prompt!”  

This was such a fucking drag.  

\--------------------

Temari POV

He took his damn time getting to this library, but the mission was successful.  

The library in Konoha was beautiful, so I didn’t mind that he was late so much.  We had a huge head start on the project, anyways.  I took some time to admire the space.  The oak bookshelves, all the way up the high ceilings, the paned sky light, the intelligence shinobi quietly shuffling through the archives, the old lady managing the circulation desk, sleeping on a book.  It was really nice, and it kind of reminded me of home.  Libraries can look so different, but they all have the same feel, for some reason.  

Shikamaru walked up to the round table I was set up at, looking like he was half asleep.  

“took you long enough.”  

“I got caught up with something.”

“Some clouds calling your name?”

“something like that.”  

“Well I started without you, and I reserved a study room, it’ll be free in half an hour.”  That idiot sat down at my table with the least amount of grace anyone could possibly display.  “comfortable?”  He put his feet up on my lap.  

“very.”

“Get the fuck off of me, Nara.”  I shoved his feet off.  “now who’s being troublesome?”  The fossil working the circulation desk shushed me.  Nara had a smug look on his face.  

“Yeah, Temari. Shush.”  

“You’re a pain in the ass, Shikamaru.  I’m going to go check to see if the study room is still occupied.”  It was still a while before we had it reserved but there was always a chance that the people using it before would leave early.  Up the stairs and through the first hallway on the left, I saw that the door was open, so I assumed it was free now.  I went downstairs to tell Shikamaru and we took all our stuff (which, for some reason, he packed his entire home to come to the library.  Ironic because he always makes fun of women for being heavy packers, but Nara fucking took fifty pounds worth of school supplies) and headed to the study room.  But when we got there, it was locked again.  

“Temari, what’s the deal I thought you said that it was free.  Now we have to go all the way back downstairs with our stuff and then later come all the way back up.  So much work.”  

“Quit whining, the door was open when I came to check.”  He gave me an incredulous look.  “Honestly!  Nara, it isn’t in my advantage in any way to lie to you.  I’m, also, going up and down the stairs with books.  Idiot.”  He sighed and started making hand signals, using his jutsu to go underneath the door and unlock the door.  Looking back at it, two people who pride themselves on their amazing strategic ability should have found the situation a bit suspicious, but we weren’t thinking and we were both cranky and impatient, so we opened the door.  We cannot unsee what we have seen.  

Inside the stupid private study room was none other than Kakashi Hatake ramming into some brunette that I have never seen in my entire life.  For the life of me, I couldn’t tell you any other feature about her, other than that she was a very, very loud moaner.  She was ass naked, fucking a leaf sensei and oh god, I didn’t want to see that.  I had a side thought that it was kind of impressive that they got this far in the small amount of time that it took to go down and back up the stairs.  Nara, like the true Shika he is, just stood there like a deer in headlights, and so did the lovely couple.  I was the first to react, awkwardly apologizing, and yanking Nara out the door with me.  

Nara didn’t say anything for awhile.  It must have been traumatizing for him.  To me, Kakashi Hatake was just some guy in his late twenties, pretty good looking, who happened to be a teacher.  But Shikamaru viewed the guy as an authority person, someone who he respected as an educator, so I had some sympathy for Shikamaru.  I would not be in any better shape if I walked in on Baki fucking some Kunoichi.  I sat him down at a round wooden table, set his bags beside him, and took a seat opposite him.  After a couple minutes, which felt like hours, passed, I decided to try my luck talking to him.  

“Do you wanna talk about it.”  No verbal response, just a gulp.  I looked into his eyes, his retinas were normal sized, which was a good sign.  I was concerned about him going into shock.  “You know, it’s very natural, just part of--”

“No!”  He put his hands to his ears.  “We are not having this conversation, you, Temari, may be slightly older than me, but you do not have the authority to give me the talk, for christ’s sake.”  

“You dumb ass, acting like I want to give you the talk, I was just trying to be nice.”  I leaned back into the chair, folding my arms.  If he wasn’t going to accept my help, I wasn’t going to bend over backwards to make him more comfortable.  I fucking hopes he walks in on Kakashi and that chick again.  I don’t, but I was fucking bitter about the situation.  

\-------------------

Shikamaru POV

I’ve never been more mortified in my entire life.  The only thing worse than seeing Kakashi-sensei fucking this girl was Temari trying to tell me that it was natural.  Why the fuck would she do that.  Honestly.  What right did she have to be going around, acting like she knows all this stuff that I don’t about sex.  It was fucking insulting.  

I knew she was mad, she crosses her arms like that when she’s uncomfortable and when she’s upset.  Usually at me.  I shouldn’t have snapped at her, though.  That wasn’t very gentlemanly.  But she just kept making the situation worse by saying that shit.  But still, I don’t know what came over me.  I’m usually a chill guy, really, but Temari brings out what Ino calls my “passionate side” and it’s horribly annoying.  

I once asked Asuma why sometimes I had a passionate side.  He said it was just a masculinity thing.  He said that when when a guy’s masculinity is threatened, that’s when he goes wild trying to prove it.  It makes a lot of sense, his theory, but it bothers me a lot.  I think that’s one of my greatest faults.  I’m not lazy enough.  A cloud wouldn’t care if a female taunted him.  I shouldn’t have either.  It wasn’t like I was a classy guy, but still, I should have a hold of myself.  Be the gentleman that my dad tried so hard to make me.  

I was lost in my own thoughts for the amount of time it took for Kakashi and the girl to finish what they were doing and head out of the study room.  I, quite frankly, am kind of shocked that they just continued after we left.  You’d think that Temari and I would have ruined the mood.  Leave it to that perv, though.  Actually, I should say those pervs, because it’s a known fact that the woman he was with is quite the freak herself.  

 

\-------

Temari POV

I have never experienced such a long half hour in my life.  Shikamaru was gone, drifting off into his thoughts, as per usual, and I was stuck being just awkward.  There’s so much about living in Konoha that’s awkward.  I just am foreign, through and through, so a lot of this shit is so weird and out of place for me.  But things have been good since starting school and making friends.  I didn’t have to feel awkward and foreign.  But in that thirty minute span, good god, I felt like a martian.  

Talking to Shikamaru was out of the question.  He’s an asshole who didn’t deserve my attention, and even if he did, I was pretty sure he was mad at me, too.  And going into the study room was out of the question, as well.  The reasons should be obvious.  I could just bolt out of the library like my gut was telling me to.  But I stayed.  It would be too hurtful to my pride to have to explain later to everyone, plus I already got his mom involved so I really did have to go through with this study date.  No, not a date.  Study meeting.  

Once those assholes decided to finish up who they were doing and leave the room, clothing unabashedly rumpled and clearly only half heartedly put on, I grabbed my backpack and, with the most stern glare I could muster, eyed the couple down.  But they only returned the glare, looking as if I was way too young to be judging them.  I guess I sort of am, too.  But still, they could have been at least a little more embarrassed.  

I got into the study room and immediately took to sanitizing everything.  I wiped the table down and all four chairs.  I even got the walls, for good measure.  And once I was certain everything was safe, I let Shikamaru sit down.  He gave me a small, murmured, thanks, and we immediately brought our books out to scour everything we could for research.  

Remember how I said that I should have listened to my gut and gone running out of the library, before?  Yeah, well I really wish I had followed my gut.  A woman’s intuition always knows best.  At the time, I didn’t really consider that the reason my gut was telling me to get out was not about avoiding social confrontation, however.  

Not one hour after research, a voice over the intercom alerted all library visitors that they were now under full lockdown.  Something about an enemy shinobi, for reasons unknown (we figured out in about .5 seconds that they were obviously after information stored in the archives), possibly have seized the air ventilation system of the library and poisoned it.  

So yeah, that’s why I was stuck with that lazy ass while in the middle of a fight for hours.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m ending this now, tbh just because I’m tired but I want to post it. Yeah, I’m just gonna admit right now that the mystery girl Kakashi was fucking was me. I’m not sorry. Don't worry, I'm not of importance in this story at all.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Kikisuteru!  Thanks for the review, your suggestion for sure influenced the chapter.  Lmao.  Thanks to people who are still reading it, idk why you’re doing it, but as long as you read it (and I somehow find out that you are, indeed, reading it) I will continue to write this strange, strange story.  I’m mostly on summer break now, so I’ll try to update more often now, and update with longer chapters.  

Send me an emoticon in the review if you like it.  I’m an attention whore, I really need reviews, follows, or favorites to write.  Lmao.  

 

Shikamaru POV

The clock was unreasonably loud.  Each second was marked so clearly and distinctly.  I don’t understand why they didn’t just have a digital clock in the library.  Everything else was up to date in terms of technology, why did they need one of those circular clocks that blasted out each counting second?

I spend far too long analyzing the technology of the library, and the dialectics of having innovative technology for everything but timekeeping before I came to the conclusion that the clock wasn’t archaic or anything, the silence was just awkward.  

Temari and I, usually, are the kind of friends who enjoy companionable silence.  I’m not really the most talkative person, and while she is pretty talkative herself, she knows that she can’t talk for too long because I’ll stop listening.  But this silence was grueling.  This was our first fight.  I’d never been in a real fight with a girl before.  Sure, we bicker a lot, just like how mom and Ino constantly yell at me, but that isn’t fighting.  I didn’t like this one bit.  I kept on having these thoughts that I wanted to tell her, theories about who the culprit was, notes on our project, whatever.  But I didn’t tell her what I was thinking, like I usually do.  I was scared she was going to respond without a bitingly sarcastic remark or a comment about how dumb my idea was or even worse, something supportive.  When Temari is nice to me, that’s when I know I’m fucked.  I desperately wanted her to go back to normal, but I was too cowardly, because I feared she would ignore me, and I just didn’t want things to be different.  

Of course, these are all my thoughts looking back at it.  I should have seen that worrying about our fight more than the poison possibly streaming into our lungs was a sign, but I didn’t.  In the moment, I was just fucking pissed.  I did find myself wanting to tell her things, out of habit, but then I reminded myself that I hated her guts, at that moment.  

 

Temari POV

I’m too stubborn for my own good, I know.  But this stupidhead really was on my nerves.  I was trying to help him and he didn’t fucking accept it, so he can go fuck himself.  Usually I can’t hold a grudge for very long, but Shikamaru miraculously changed my ways.  There was no way I was going to cave first.  I was practically glaring darts at him, daring him to fucking break this tension filled silence.  It did not matter what he was going to say, I was going to yell at him for it.  He could tell me that he was going to give me a million dollars and that I was the most beautiful person he ever laid eyes on, but I still would have yelled at him for it.  

I was about to provoke a response from him when the intercom voiced another announcement.  

“All library personnel and guests, do not be alarmed.”  

“stupid.” I muttered under my breath, we were all fucking poisoned, of course we’re alarmed.  I saw Shikamaru roll his eyes, too.  

“We are experiencing an attack through our ventilation system.  If you are in the general library, please proceed with caution to the exits where medical nins will assist you in removing the toxins.  If you are in a study area, or another closed space, stay put until a ninja can come get you.  It is possible that the intruders have attacked the ventilation system in the closed spaces differently, so please, be patient.  This message will repeat.”  

We both listened to the message again.  This was bad.  The ninja world did many things very well and kept many people safe.  However, not even ninjas can avoid the horrors of bureaucracy, and as such, Shikamaru and I both knew very well that this could talk hours.  So much medical work and testing…  The door to their study room was locked and there was no getting in or out for a long time.  

I probably should have been worrying about toxins killing me, but instead, my brain was working overtime to try and figure out what was going on between me and Shikamaru.

I stopped working for a moment to crack my knuckles, my neck, my back, anything I could to relieve some tension.  I saw Shikamaru shutter at the sound and felt a spark of pride flow through me.  I crossed my arms and stared at the lazyass.  He cleared his throat.  

“How many sources did Mr. Yamato say we need?”  I was taken aback for a second.  Here, we’ve been sitting in tension for a small eternity and he chooses that to crack it?  

“Shikamaru?”

“hnn.”  

“What’s your iq, again?”  

“I don’t know, something above 200.”  

“So why the fuck would you ask me something like that.”  I glared right into his eyes so he knew I wasn’t fucking around.  I pushed the chair back and stood up, my fists on the table.  “You’re the fucking genius.  You know all there is to know about the world, so you don’t need me.  Figure it out yourself.”  The sarcasm was just dripping from my words.  I was infuriated.  

“Temari, are we really gonna do this now?”  He sounded bored.  Bored!  

“Do what, now?  Please, explain to my simple mind what we’re doing now.”  

“Temari!  You know well what I mean.”  He stood up too, matching my stance.  “You’re just being a child about this, just say what your problem is.”  

“I’m being a child?  I have a problem?”    I stared at him incredulously and he just returned it with a confused expression.  “You act like you’re two years old over there.”  I pointed to where we were sitting when we were waiting for Hatake and his girl to finish.  “and you think I’m the one with the issue?  You’re the one who’s too fucking proud to hear what I have to say about sex.  You’re my problem”  I poked him on the chest when I said ‘you’re’ to really emphasize my point.  

“jesus christ, Temari!”  

“What?  Does it bother you when I say sex?”  He went red.  Yes, it did bother him.  “Too bad.  I’ll fucking say it when I want.  Sex.  Sex.  Sex.”  The word got louder each passing time I said it.  “SEX!  Shikamaru is afraid of SEX!”  

“Temari!”  He lounged across the workplace to cover my mouth with his hand.  He ended up banging my head on the wall, and I viciously bit at his hand to get it off.  

“You’re an asshole, Shikamaru, that fucking hurt!”  

“Well I wouldn’t have had to do it if you had just been quiet.”  He licked some blood off his palm.

“You need to get over this weird aversion to sex.  What are you, asexual, or something?  hmm?  because if you are, fuck, Shikamaru, I’ll stop.”  I uncrossed my arms exasperatedly.

“Jesus, no.  I’m not asexual, Temari.”  

“Then why can’t you fucking look me in the face and just say ‘sex’”  My voice betrayed me, I couldn’t get the last line out without laughing slightly.  

“Stop laughing at me.”  

“I’m not laughing at you!”  

“You’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”  

“Excuse me?  You know, it’s not like you’re some ray of sunshine in my life, either.”  

“Then why don’t you just go home.”  I shoved him.  

“I can’t, you fucking jerk!  You have your family who loves you and can support you, I don’t have the luxuries you have.  You dimwitted asshole.”  I waited for a response, but he just dumbly put his hands in his pockets.  “Yeah, I’m here to fucking pay for my brothers’ education.  What the fuck are you here for?  To satisfy your mom?  You don’t even understand how lucky you are.  All you do is complain about your mother.  Did you ever stop to think that I would kill to have what you have?”  Fuck, I just made myself incredibly depressed.  I meant to make him feel bad, but now I was feeling bad.  

“Temari-- I-”  

“No!  Shikamaru, you’re just a coward.  I was trying to fucking explain something to you, and you just-”

“Temari.”  

“you just ignore me like that.  I know it’s not the most comfortable topic but-”

“TEMARI!”  

“What do you want now, I swear Shika-”

“Shadow possession jutsu.”  

“Asshole!”  He had me fucking tied up.  “No fair!  I didn’t bring my fan!”  

“your fault.”  I knew that resistance was futile, so I just gave up.  He had me tied to the chair in his freezing cold shadows.  

“Alright, out with it.”  He used a shadow to gag me.  I made a bunch of inhumanly sounds in protest, but he ignored it.  

“I’m a traditional kind of guy.”  I rolled my eyes.  No shit, Shikamaru.  “I don’t have a problem with sex but I’m not about to start a conversation about it, let alone a conversation about it with someone who I’m not fucking and in the public library of all places.”  I stopped giving him attitude, because he did have a point.  He exhaled deeply and kept his eyes shut.  “I’m sorry.  I’m going to release you.  Pleasedon’thurtme”  he said quickly while he released the jutsu.  The idiot.  As soon as I was let go of I punched him square in the jaw.  

“moron!”  

“Temari, that fucking hurt!”  He held his jaw and fingered at the blood creeping from his mouth.  

“serves you right, you bastard.”  

“can we just call it even, now?”  

“depends.”

“on what?”  He said exasperatedly.  

“do you still want me to leave?”  

silence.  

“well that answers that.”  I went back to work, fully ignoring him again, back to square one.  

 

Shikamaru POV

What’s the point of having this high of an iq, anyways?  I’d gladly give up 100 of these useless things if it meant I could talk to Temari normally.  I don’t know why I couldn’t fucking say it.  All I had to say was ‘no, I don’t want you to leave’.  But I didn’t trust myself to.  I honestly didn’t think I could just end it there, I think I would have ended up admitting feelings for her.  No, reader, not romantic or sexual feelings.  Just feelings in general.  And, well, that’s not really how our relationship works.  Sentiments are uncomfortable.  I couldn’t tell her that I’d miss her when she’d leave during winter break, or that I enjoyed her company.  She’d make fun of me and call me a crybaby.  Or even worse, she may just flat out ignore my emotional advances and just make our relationship awkward.  I could have none of that, it was too troublesome.  I’d like to think that my decision to not respond to her question was a logical one; one that required the least amount of work, but it wasn’t.  I said nothing  because I’m a coward, just like she said.  And how the fuck and I supposed to apologize for having a mother?  That’s not exactly fair of her to blame me for.  

I spent a good 15 minutes yelling at myself to fucking say something to her, fucking anything would do, at this point, but she beat me to it.  

“it’s okay.  let’s not fight.”  Easy as that.  Temari was amazing.  I exhaled and reclined in my seat.  

“hey Temari?”  

“hmmm”  

“what do you think the odds are that Kakashi and his girl are fucking in the room next door?”  As if it was some horribly misplaced divine intervention, a moan answered my question.  She burst out laughing.  I didn’t like talking crudely, but I did it anyways.  

It was then that I realized that there was little I wouldn’t do to see her laugh.  

  
  
  
  



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